Shade and Shine
by ShadesEdge
Summary: Shade and Shine are two Eeveelutions forgotten in the world of Kalos. When new challenges arise, enemies emerge, and alliances are formed, will they be able to cope with the situations they find themselves in? Or will they crumble in the hands of oppressors? All they know is that the world is a cruel place, and that they have to leave their mark. (Umbreon x Espeon plus some others)
1. Chapter 1: Shine's Story

Shine's POV

My name is Shine, and I'm a female Espeon. I was an Eevee for about 10 years, as most Eevee were in my tribe. There was a sacred ritual that we all had to go through, on our 11th birthday out tribe elder would take us down to the Sacred Stones, and we would each choose which Eeveelution we would accept for the rest of our lives. I remember the countless hours my friends and I spent comparing the different forms and all their attributes. Flare was going to become a Flareon, to match her ecstatic personality, Snow was hoping to become a Glaceon, so she could finally fit into her icy nature. All my friends had the perfect matches for their Eveelutions, even Jolt, who showed almost no emotion at all. But it was a very large sin to become an Umbreon.

No one quite knew what was wrong with Umbreon, but they were disconnected from others in a way. Only 3 people had ever chosen Umbreon before in our tribe, and they were all banished to the Shadow Forest promptly after their evolution. I had always shown the common disgust for them, but personally, I had never seen anything truly wrong with how they were.

Finally, the day had come. Just as the sun was rising, all of the 10 year old Eevee were directed out of our houses, and taken to the ritual. I remember giving my mom and dad a huge hug, and they said,

"We're so proud of what you've done, and we support any form you choose, as long as you don't choose to become an Umbreon."

"But why? What's wrong with becoming an Umbreon? They seem all right!" I said, forgetting to keep up my fake hatred for them.

"Umbreon are Dark Types, Shine. They feel no remorse from killing other Pokemon in cold blood, and they live during the night. They are demons, an you should be lucky if you never see one in your entire life!" they huffed angrily.

"Ok... I don't know which form I want to choose though!" I wailed. "This is a huge decision, and I don't want to mess it up!"

"Oh honey! Don't worry, you will be perfectly fine! Just follow your heart, and choose what YOU really want." My mother said soothingly.

"Thank you guys! I love you both so much! Well.. I guess I'll see you tonight!" I called as I was whisked away by the Elder of our tribe.

When the elder was walking us to the chamber, I was still deciding which form I wanted to choose. My friends were all quivering in anticipation and they kept giggling, which the elder quickly put an end to. I remembered how much fun I had spending the days with my friends, and how I was always the happiest Eevee in our group. Walking to the camber in the golden, rising run, I finally chose to become an Espeon, so I could keep my sunny nature and be a happy, loving supporter to my friends for the rest of my life. As we got to the chamber, the ceremony started for real.

Our elder brought around a plate filled with 4 stones around to us. Jolt went first, shaking like a pup, and gently placed his paw on the Thunder Stone. He yelped and jumped back, like he had touched the tail of a Charizard, and pulsed in white light, until it gradually faded away. My friend no longer had the traditional cream and brown that had made him an Eevee, he had yellow spikes coming out of his back!

Flare went next, and she was more bold than Jolt had been. She proudly put her paw on the Fire Stone, and yipped happily as her body was enveloped in the same white light. When the light faded, she was a bright red color, with a yellow mane wrapping around her neck!

After the rest of my friends had gone, it was my turn. The elder looked at me with soft eyes and a smile on his face, and I realized that he was a Leafeon. He asked me what I would like to become, and I shakily squeaked: "Espeon" He cocked his head and put away the stones.

"Well, this one will be a bit harder then. There is no evolution stone for Espeon. You have to reach your maximum happiness during the day. Luckily it's daytime now, so if you can help you reach maximum happiness, you'll evolve right now."

I nervously looked to my friends and smiled, then closed my eyes.

I dreamed silently of running in a field as an Eevee. The field had flowers dotting left and right, with Floette and Roselia playing everywhere. I was surrounded by all my friends when we were still carefree and full of ideas of what we wanted to be. Off in the distance, we saw Shadow Forest, and Flare dared Jolt to put one paw inside of the forest. We all snuck up to the entrance, and Jolt walked forward, emotionless, and grinned back at us. He slowly slipped his paw int the forest and touched the cold leaves resting at the entrance. Our eyes widened like saucers, and we all yelped and ran away, convinced he had been cursed. It had been the best day of my life, and I felt white light surrounding me as a tear rolled down my face.

I felt my bones changing, and my whole facial structure reconstructing. My fluffy tail snapped out, and split at the ends. To end the evolution, I felt a red gem appear on my forehead, common of all Espeon.

After my evolution, my friends and I all gathered together and complimented each other on our new Eeveelutions and looks. Jolt reached out to shake Snow's hand, and gave her a little shock when they touched. Jolt and Snow burst out laughing, and the rest of us giggled as well. Little did we know that our lives would fall apart that day.


	2. Chapter 2: Shade's Story

Shade's POV

My life was much different than any normal Pokemon's life. I was a wild Pokemon living in a forest, alone. I never remembered my parents, and they must have left me while I was still an egg, because I was left defenseless as a pup. I was captured at a very young age, before I could barely even walk, for my unique colors. I'm what humans call a "shiny" and my kind is very highly sought out by humans. I was an Eevee for 10 years before my trainer, desperate to get a shiny Eeveelution, tried to evolve me by force.

He sent me out of my Pokeball one day, which was a rare occasion, because I was still very low leveled. I was only about a lvl 30, which is a very low level for being 10 years of age. My evil trainer stooped down with a shiny green stone in his hands, and attempted to make me touch it. I didn't know why, but the stone sent out a weird vibe, and I didn't want to be anywhere near it. I whimpered, and tried to back away from him. He must have seen my eyes and how scared I was, because he grabbed me and tried to force the stone onto me. I gasped, and felt so betrayed. My trainer, who I had loved and respected, even when he only let me watch battles, because I was too weak. Sure, sometimes he gave me an Exp Share to hold, but that was the only reason I was a level 30. I realized that I hated him. He didn't let me battle, even when I wanted to. I wanted to become a strong addition to my trainer's team, but he wouldn't even give me the time of day.

I looked him in his eyes again, hoping that he would see that I was scared and didn't want to touch it, but I was wrong. He had a smug grin on his face, and he said tauntingly "C'mon boy, if ya touch this stone, you can evolve and be useful in battle!"

I looked into his eyes and felt a touch of regret. Then I tilted my head down and bit down on his hand as hard as I could.

"AAAGGGHHHHHH" he yelled, releasing his grip on me. I pushed off of him and slapped his face with my tail, unintentionally making him fall backwards onto my Pokeball! As soon as he put his weight onto it, it shattered in a huge flash of red light.

I stood there in shock and just stared at him. He looked down at the shattered pieces and back at me and slowly moved his hands towards me.

"Come here boy... don't run..." he said tentatively, with stress in his voice. I looked at him in disgust and ran away as quickly as I could.

"NO! COME BACK HERE! YOU'RE MY SHINY! GET BACK HERE!" he yelled.

I was free! I had never been out of my Pokeball like this. As soon as it was broken, I felt truly free. No one to call me back or bark orders at me, no one to tell me what to do, I was my own person. Unfortunately, I was in the city when I became free, and it was awful. Whenever someone saw me, they tried to grab me or catch me, so they could have a shiny. While I was running, I saw a huge shiny structure with letters spelling "Team Plasma" on them, and humans with weird haircuts were walking all around outside. A couple yelled and pointed at me, so I kept going. I was dodging hands left and right, and I finally reached the entrance of the city. I ran away as fast as I could and never looked back. I passed tons of paths and people, before they all thinned out, and then they disappeared entirely. I ran past some type of wild community, with huts and Pokemon. After I passed them, I came to the entrance of a very dark forest. I slowly padded into the forest, and kept going into the heart of the forest. As the sun began to set, I found a huge tree and laid down on one of the massive branches. Sitting on a tree branch at the heart of the forest in the pure dark was heaven for me, and I fell asleep with happiness swelling up within me.

When I awoke the next day and hopped out of the tree, I felt different. I felt more lean and quick than I had remembered, and I was feeling almost drained from just hopping down. The sun that I had loved to look at whenever I could almost seemed to sap energy from me, and it was nearly painful. I looked at my paws and gasped in horror. My usual white colored paws had become pitch black with glowing blue rings on them. I stumbled back and hit a tree, and looked into a puddle by chance. My pointed ears were gone and I had almost tube-like ears, again with blue rings! I sat down on the ground and just sat there, confused at what I had become and why.

I woke up at night again, and immediately I felt different. I was moving with assurance and it was effortless. As I was still learning about my new body, I heard a hissing sound. It was a Seviper, and it didn't look happy.

"Puny worm... Whatttttt areeee youuuu doingggg in myyyy turfffff" it said in an annoyed tone.

" I..I'm sorry sir, I just got here and I didn't know this was your spot..." as I was cut off and slapped against a tree.

"Well you knowwww, twerpppp. I'm in a badddd mood today, and I haven't had a biteeeee to eat for a while..."

"No, no, NO!" I said shakily. "Please don't eat me. I've just escaped from my corrupt trainer, and I changed form or something and I'm just so confused..."

The Seviper wrapped its body around my legs in a split second. "Toughhhh luck kid, you're in sssShadow Forest now." he said with venom in his voice.

I recoiled as much as I could, but I was caught fast in his grip. I just closed my eyes and felt pure anger welling up inside of me. All of my life I had been the calm, quiet, timid Eevee and I had never fought back. I was sick of it. If I was going to survive here, then I had to change, and I had to do it fast. I spoke to Arceus and begged for power, and surprisingly, he answered. I looked up with pure killing intent in my eyes and stared at Seviper.

"W...what are you doing, kid? sssssStop it with those eyes, that's just creepy. I mean it's creepy enough usually but a Shiny's eyes are different. Yours are yellow instead of the usual red I see." he stammered.

"Oh really?" I said with a malevolent tone. "Well I'm not the usual, you idiot. I live in the dark, and I have no remorse for killing you." I crunched as tight as I could and yelled until I felt something click inside of me, and black smoke started to appear around my body. I smirked at the dumbfounded Seviper and snapped forward and released a Dark Pulse right through his slimy body. I stepped over his destroyed body and grabbed his maw and pointed my eyes into his.

"W...w...Who ARE you?" he rasped, almost spent.

I kneaded my paw on his neck and let my claws unsheathe so he could see, before replying "My name... Is Shade" and pushed down.


	3. Chapter 3: Team Plasma Strikes

Shine's POV

Team Plasma. The enemy of wild Pokemon everywhere. And they were in my home. I sat frozen as I saw my friends, the elder, and all of my other family being captured and our homes destroyed. I jumped up, and fell down instantly, not used to my new body form. I saw Jolt sprint over to me, and he grabbed me by my scruff in his powerful jaws.

"WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE SHINE!" Jolt screamed into my long, pink ears. I was shocked, because Jolt had been a calm, collected Eevee for the whole time I had known him, and after his evolution, he was moving quickly and tensely.

"But... What about our families Jolt?" I said tenderly, as I felt my dreams of a happy life slipping away.

He stopped and looked at me in the eyes with regret, and I knew. I knew that they were gone forever and I would never see them again.

As we were mourning, a Team Plasma member rushed forward with a cage in his hands and snatched Jolt and me up, and tried to shove us into it. Jolt looked me in the eyes again with sadness in his eyes, and I knew what he was going to do. He used an Electric type move and the man was filled with an electrical shock, and he dropped me. He managed to shove Jolt in the cage, and he was whisked away as quickly as he came. I flattened myself against the grass and tried to hide as I cried. I cried for Jolt and I cried for my family, but most of all I cried for me. Ive just become the Sun Pokemon, but my life is nothing but dark now.


	4. Chapter 4: The Arena

Shades POV

After killing the Seviper, I felt much better. Once he had threatened to kill me, something clicked inside of me ,and I didn't care about my ethics or others. I only wanted to survive. I had to kill to survive in this place, and that's what a Dark type did. (I figured out I was a dark type because I was able to use Dark Pulse)

I started to train. My first few nights of fighting were the worst, because the other wild Pokemon wouldn't even take me seriously, so I was forced to fight in The Pit. The Pit was an awful place, with danger at every corner. There were nightly events in their main arena, where either two or six Pokemon were forced to a match to the death. I was scared, but I knew that until I got more powerful, I wouldn't be able to participate in clean matches with high-ranked enemies. My first match was the worst experience of my life. My opponent was a Houndoom named Devil, and he was a monster. As we walked down the long pathway to the arena, he kept snarling at me, and everyone seemed really tense around us. I probably should've taken this as a sign that something bad was going to happen.

When we finally entered the arena, everyone was jeering and laughing at me, because I was nearly 20 levels behind Devil. I just looked directly ahead of me and smirked. A Psyduck waddled out onto the arena and waved his hands in the air, to silence the crowd. He checked to make sure none of us had any illegal weapons or items, then promptly started the match.

I had no idea what I was in for.

The second the Psyduck started the match, I was thrown back by a crushing force, and slammed into the wall. The crowd roared in delight as Devil appeared a few inches away from my face with his teeth bared. I looked up in shock, but bounced off the wall as quickly as I could, right before a Flamethrower licked at my heels, covering the area I was in not 3 seconds ago in flames. I was still watching him when he suddenly rocketed towards me again, this time with a Bite already preparing to attack. I twisted out of the way and he slammed into the ground. When I finally landed, he was spitting dirt out of his maw, and he was not happy. I had made him look like a fool, and he hadn't been able to take me out yet.

The crowd was slowly changing sides. At first I was the newbie that Devil was going to destroy in a flash, but I had survived for over a minute, and no one had done this before.

Devil looked at me with fire in his eyes, and growled "You're dead now kid."

He lept towards me again, but I was ready for him now. I corkscrewed to the side, but instead of running away, I thrust my paw towards his exposed stomach, and unsheathed my claws. The reaction was enormous. Devil yelled out in pain, and he slammed into the ground with blood trickling out of his side.

Everyone looked at me and gasped, then looked back towards Devil. I walked over to him and put my paw on his head, claiming my rightful pace as the winner.

"He's done ref." I said with no emotion in my voice.

"So? Finish him, kid. I wanna get the next match going, so hurry it up." the Psyduck said, obviously annoyed.

"What? He's close to fainting, theres no way he could even fight back, just end the match now." I said, with a sinking feeling in my stomach.

'Kid, to end a match, one of youse has to die, so just finish him, NOW HURRY IT UP!" the Psyduck said.

The audience swiveled their eyes to me, waiting for me to kill him. I looked at Devil once more, and spun away in disgust.

"Then I quit, I'm not going to murder a helpless enemy." I said with a cold voice.

Behind me, I heard a voice cough, and say "Bad choice, kid."

There was a brilliant lash of light, and I spun around in horror. I had seen enough of my trainer's battles to know what was happening, but I had never faced an opponent like this before. The Houndoom had slipped a Houndoomite from his mouth, and he had Mega Evolved!

I backed away slowly, this time truly afraid.

"HA HA HA! You thought I was done, didn't you, you little prick?" Devil said with malice lacing his voice.

"HEY! YOU CAN"T HAVE A MEGA STONE, DEVIL! THAT MEANS YOU FORFEIT THE MATCH FOR HAVING ILLEGAL ITEMS!" the Psyduck said fearfully.

"Oh shut up, you idiot." Devil said, tossing a fireball at the Psyduck, who took it right to the face.

The crowd, who had been frozen for a while, screamed in panic as they saw the ref fall to the ground, burnt to a crisp.

"Y-you KILLED HIM!" I yelled at the Houndoom. "WHY WOULD YOU KILL HIM?"

"Because I can, you wimp." Devil called back, sniggering. "And...YOU'RE NEXT!"

I gasped in horror, and tried to run towards the exit, but Devil had taken a huge boost to his stats, and now he was worlds faster than me.

"Oh no you don't, I'm going to rip you apart for being a smarts and messing with me in our earlier fight!" he snarled, baring his rows of blood-stained fangs to me. He grabbed me by my scruff and threw me against the wall, putting a large crack into it.

I grunted in pain, but shakily stood up again, and looked Devil in the eyes. His eyes met mine, and he smirked.

"So you're not gonna go down easy, are you? Thats fine, I'll enjoy crushing you, even if it takes me hours." he yelled, full of bloodlust.

I started to run away again, but this time when he charged, I used a Quick Attack to rocket away, ten come back and hit him with my head in his leg. But since he was Mega Evolved, my attack barely even scratched him! Instead, he grabbed me again, and shoved me down to the ground, then clamped his paw around my neck.

"Looks like this is it, kid. It's a shame, you could've been a great adversary. Too bad you're absolutely useless in battle." he chuckled.

And that was it. I snapped. I felt something happen inside of me, I felt the blood pumping through my veins, and I looked at Devil with pure hatred. Time seemed to slow down, and I felt myself moving extremely fast in this slow world. I slid out from Devil's grip, jumping as high as I could into the air. He recoiled and tried to follow me with his eyes, but I was too fast. The entire crowd silent, and I ricocheted off of the sids of the arena, gathering more and more speed. Right when I felt too tired to continue, the whole clearing exploded in green light, and I was surrounded by a green aura, my rings glowing as bright as day!

Everyone gasped, wondering why the hell my rings changed from blue to green. I had no idea either, but I suddenly gained even more speed. I felt like a blur traveling throughout the arena, and I felt something burning in my throat. Some instinct in me made me turn my mouth towards Devil as I sped towards him, moving faster than I ever had before, and some type of Dark Type energy exploded from my mouth in a circular shape, before making contact onto Devils chest and exploding.

I floated down to the earth, panting slightly. Devil's body laid in a crumpled heap across the arena, and all eyes were on me. After I had opened up my heart so he could survive, only to have him betray me, I was done with trust for a bit. With my green rings still glowing, I opened my eyes, which had turned a blood red, and said coldly,

"So, who's next."

I gained quite a reputation overnight and leveled up almost 30 times. Everyone wanted to challenge me, trying to claim power in the forest. I won every single fight. I also got a new arsenal from all the leveling up. Dark Pulse, Shadow Ball, Crunch, and Confuse Ray were all on my move set now, and I was unstoppable. After another week, I was a level 60, and I was the most feared Pokemon in the area, which I had learned was called "Shadow Forest"

Shines POV

After Team Plasma left, I walked back to my destroyed village and tried to find anyone I knew. All I found were destroyed buildings and crushed eggs. I sat there for a full week, and ate only plants. As an Espeon, my energy was in full bloom during the day, but it waned at night. Finally, Team Plasma came back, and I went and hid in the only place I knew I could, Shadow Forest.

I slipped into the forest just as Team Plasma came back, and I was a mess. My whole family was gone, and my life was ruined. I just wanted it all to end. I just kept walking and walking until pretty soon, I was lost. I hadn't realized how far I had gone until I was there. Then, _he_ showed up.


	5. Chapter 5: Savior

3rd person

Shine had been walking for so long that she had accidentally gone into the heart of the forest. As she was walking, she reached Shades territory, without knowing it.

"Weeeeeelllllll hello there beautiful" a Zangoose crooned from the shadows.

"Who... Who's there?" Shine called back, growling slightly.

The Zangoose stepped out of the shadows with blood on his maw and a grin on his face. Shine backed up in horror.

"Whatttttt? Don't mind this, I just had a run-in with ah... An old friend of mine" the Zangoose chuckled.

"S...Stay away from me!" Shine yelled out of fear for her life.

The Zangoose stepped closer and licked his long claws with a devilish smile on his face. Then, as quick as a flash, he pinned the Espeon down and bared his teeth.

Shine closed her eyes and prayed to Arceus that he would make her death quick and painless. But Arceus had different plans for her.

Shades POV

After my nonstop training for a week, I was exhausted. I slept for a full 2 days, but when I woke up, I was ready for action. I had "acquired" territory that spanned in a huge circle around the heart of the forest, and it was the best land for miles around.

It was night time when i awoke again, and I heard screams coming from my land.

"Stupid Pokemon, cant stay on their own land and mind their own business" I grumbled, slipping into the night and sprinting towards the source. Since I was some type of shiny and had green rings, It confused many Pokemon when I approached them, and gave me time to attack.

I slowed down, at level 60 my speed was insanely fast, and it was definitely hard to get used to. I slunk through the shadows and observed what was happening before my eyes.

"That Zangoose is back again, and it looks like he's killed on my land" I growled, observing the blood on his snout. But his victim here was more of a shock to me. It was a purple Pokemon, and she looked somewhat familiar to me. But she looked emotionally crushed, and her eyes held no signs of life in them.

I was about to walk away when I saw the Zangoose pounce on her and prepare his claws. It was strange. For a whole week I had detached myself from love and care, and I only helped myself. But seeing her, I just couldn't let her die. She was beautiful, and I wanted to find out why she already looked dead inside. Plus, a high level Zangoose surely would be some good training, at the very least.

I slowly walked into the clearing and faced the Zangoose.

"Hey!" I barked "Get away from her" I said with a touch of malice in my voice.

"What the... are you shiny or something man?" the Zangoose asked in confusion. "Eh who cares, either way you're gonna die tonight!" he said with glee.

"No. I think you'll be the one who's going to perish." i said with a hint of a smirk crossing my face. I saw the female Pokemon look up at me in hope, then let her head fall back down to the ground and began to cry. "And I'm something like a shiny, but I'm a bit different."

"Oh really? I bet you're only level 15 you little punk! While myself, The Great Slash, is a level 36!" he said proudly.

"I'm a level 60, my friend" I said, with contempt in my voice. "And you're on my land."

"Y...Yeah right! Come at me then, lets see what you got, you liar!" Slash snarled.

"As you wish" I sighed, and crouched down. I used a Quick Attack to speed forward and slammed my head into his stomach, knocking the wind out of him. I rocketed back, and without giving him a change to even breathe, charged a Shadow Ball and slammed it into his head. I felt my ability activate and my rings flash in bright green. I smirked, knowing that his match was as good as over. I bounced off of trees again and again, gaining speed until I was a ball of green light at my maxed speed! Ricocheting around once more I directed a Dark Pulse right across his zigzag pattern and watched it slice him apart, feeling no pleasure from my actions. I heard the Espeon gasp in horror and stare at me. Poor thing, she had seen my ability and a death all within 10 seconds. This would be hard to explain.

I cautiously walked towards her and asked "Are you alright?" in a cold voice, possibly more cold than I needed to be. She nodded her head and opened her mouth to speak, but shrunk back before she said anything.

"Come on, I'm not as bad as I seem, what's your name" I asked warmly, trying to seem friendly.

"S-Shine. My name is Shine. And you're an Umbre..." she said weakly, before blacking out.

"Damn it!" I cursed. "I can't just leave her here, but I'm not bringing her to my place until I know what's up with her. I mean, whats an Umbre?" I thought aloud. "Ill just train here until she wakes up, I don't want to seem creepy watching her or anything" I finally decided.

Shines POV

I had given up. There was a killer pinning me down, my family was gone, and I was lost in this forest. I was ready to die. I thought I saw something zip by to my right, but it didn't matter anymore. My life was over. Then I heard him. His voice, calm and clear rang from across the clearing. My captor stopped pinning me as well, and looked up. I also looked up, and to my surprise I saw an Umbreon. But this Umbreon was different. Instead of the traditional yellow rings and red eyes that all Umbreon have, this one had green rings and red eyes. I felt my face blush slightly, Umbreon were actually quite handsome up close, WHAT NO! STOP THAT SHINE! YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW THIS GUY!

After seeing him I began to cry, because maybe, just maybe, this rouge could save me. After he and Slash, the Zangoose, finished bantering, he attacked Slash with incredible speed. The Umbreon seemed to fly when he moved back to a tree, preparing for his next attack. It could hardly even be called preparing, though. His attacks had no time in between them, and he looked like a blur. He made some kind of energy ball in his mouth and slammed it into Slash's head, and then he started to... glow? His rings exploded in light, and he disappeared from sight! Using my psychic abilities, I could still sense is presence zipping around the forest, and I gasped when I saw him speeding towards Slash at what felt like top speed! He hit him one final time, then bounced off of him and a ring of dark exploded from his body, slicing Slash in half! Normally, the fight would've been impressive enough, but it was over within 20 seconds! I looked at this green Umbreon with shock and fear in my eyes. Would he kill me next?

He began to walk towards me with murder in his red eyes.

"Are you alright?" he asked me. His voice was empty and emotionless, but I sensed a slight bit of concern.

I tried to open my mouth to reply, but I got nervous in front of him and just hung my head. I knew that this guy was a killer, and I didn't even know his name, but he protected me, and he looked really good with his green rings.

"Come on, I'm not as bad as I seem, what's your name" he asked me, this time with friendliness to his voice.

"S..Shine. My name is Shine. And you're an Umbre..." I tried to say,before I felt my world go dark.


	6. Chapter 6: Who's that Pokemon?

3rd Person POV

As Shade trained in silence, he couldn't stop thinking about the female laying next to him. First off, she seemed very delicate to be so deep into Shadow Forest, and she definitely wasn't aggressive. Shade really wanted to know her story, and what her plans were for the future. He didn't have any plans himself on what he wanted to do except train, but he wanted to start a real life at some time. He turned back towards his target, a tree, and began to pelt it with Shadow Balls and Dark Pulses. He was getting quite good, and pretty soon there would be the ability to get a new move.

While Shade was busy training, Shine finally began to stir in her slumber. She was remembering her family and friends before the ceremony. She remembered her father, the brave Jolteon, and her mother, the cool and collected Vaporeon. They met when a fisherman and his crew captured her mother, and brought her to be sold in a market. She was saved by her father when he escaped from his trainer, and and broke his Pokeball to rescue her. They then moved to the woods and had her. They were a perfect couple, and a perfect family.

She jolted awake with tears flowing freely down her face. Shine turned her eyes towards Shade, who was furiously training. Her jaw dropped as his rings began to glow brightly, almost blindingly, until a silent pulse filled the clearing and he was surrounded by a green aura. He shot one final Dark Pulse at the tree and Shine screamed as it collapsed on top of Shade, crushing him completely. Shine quivered in shock as she watched the crumbled tree settle on the ground. She started to cry again, this time more violently and she felt like she was going to be sick.

"What's wrong?" a voice asked somewhere behind

"I...HE WAS JUST KILLED BY THE TREE... A...and I wanted to thank him for saving my life" she retorted with wracking sobs.

"Who was killed?" the voice asked in mock horror. Then there was a slight snigger.

"LISTEN, I DON'T KNOW WHI YOU ARE BUT YOU CAN JUST..." Shine stopped as she spun around and saw the Umbreon standing behind her with his green rings still glowing furiously.

"Ha ha, SURPRISE!" he yelled, and exploded in laughter.

"THATS NOT FUNNY, YOU'RE A DICK!" Shine yelled, noting that he had a really cute laugh.

"Aw come on lighten up! I told you I was a level 60, you should've know it was no trouble at all to hop out of the way of that slow ass tree." Shade replied, slightly upset that she didn't think he was that fast.

"But your body... I SAW it being crushed!" Shine whined.

"Ohhhh I see. You just saw my ability in action. My ability is unique to me, and it's called Nightmare Purge. Basically it blurs fiction and reality and it makes a situation end horribly in your mind. Thats why I was glowing green, it also gives me a boost to all my stats." Shade said matter-of-factly.

"Wait... so you DIDN'T kill Slash? Because I saw your rings glow when you were fighting him!" Shine asked, obviously confused.

"No, I killed Slash. My ability didn't have time to activate fully, so there was no illusion." Shade said. "Were you actually scared that I was hurt?" Shade asked quietly, this time with a hint of kindness.

"U-Um yeah? Well I-I was just really worried that I wouldn't be able to thank you, and I would be alone in this forest with no friends." Shine said awkwardly.

Shade shifted where he was sitting uncomfortably and said tentatively with a hint of hope in his voice "So... We're friends?"

"Of course!" Shine exclaimed. She didn't know this mysterious Umbreon's story, but he was obviously alone, and in desperate need of a friend. Plus, he was kinda cute, with his deep eyes and unique colors.

Shade gave her a toothy grin and said "Ok then! Well first things first we should probably know each others names and stuff, so you go first!" he exclaimed, sitting down on all fours and listening intently.

"O..ok. Well my name is Shine, and I'm a newly evolved Espeon. A little over a week ago my tribe was attacked by Team Plasma, and they were all either stolen or killed." Shine stuttered. She nervously looked at her friend, who had a cold look on his face.

"I'm not surprised, humans are cruel and awful. My trainer caught me only for my shiny status and put me through hell so I could evolve faster. I escaped from him and he accidentally smashed my Pokéball, so I'm completely free. I ran away to this forest 2 weeks ago and I've been here battling and training ever since." Shade said.

"Wow! That's amazing, I bet you're glad to be free! And you forgot to tell me your name." Shine said with a giggle.

"Oh sorry! My name is Shade" Shade said with a slight smile. "And I have a question for you. When I first entered this forest I was an Eevee, but on my first night here I was transformed to whatever form this is right now. However my rings were blue, and now they're green after my 2 weeks of fighting. Do you know what I am or why I changed? Before you passed out you started to say "Umbre," is that what I am?"

"My my! So many questions!" Shine exclaimed. "First off, your Eeveelution is called Umbreon, and it's a Dark Type. You transformed because of how happy you were at night time, and I have no idea why your colors changed, unless you... Killed Pokemon while you were fighting?" Shine finished questioningly.

Shade now looked truly uncomfortable, and stammered for the first time Shine had known him. "W...well to battle the most powerful opponents, they all insisted on... fighting to the death. I... I didn't want to kill them, but they said it was them or me... A...and...IM A MONSTER!" Shade cried and began to sob, tears flowing down his face. He jumped up and ran back towards his place at a frightening speed.


	7. Chapter 7: The Cave

"Shade, SHADE WAIT UP!" Shine yelled at him, and started to run after him. After what seemed like hours of running, she found an entrance to a huge black stone cave. Shine tentatively stepped onto the cold stone floor and walked towards the back of the cave, and she saw a green light illuminating the end of the cave. She snuck towards the back and saw Shade sitting there, looking quite miserable. His face was tear stained and his coat was disheveled. He was resting his face on his front paws and his spirits looked crushed.

Shade felt awful. Shine had basically asked him if he was a killer, which he was, and he had to tell her the truth. All of the fighting just to gain power and levels, what was he thinking? He got no pleasure from killing, but it gave him status and power in the forest, and prevented other Pokemon from trying to attack him. He'd been desensitized to violence when his trainer was pushing him to train so he could evolve, and even though he had a shy nature, he had taken the attributes of a bold Pokemon. Shade just wished that she didn't ask him that, because it was something he hadn't come to terms with himself. Plus he ran away when he had said that, so she was probably gone now. Shade was sad she was gone, he really liked her and was going to ask her to come home with him and stay a while, but it was too late now.

Shade was so upset he slammed his head onto the ground, furious at himself for being such an idiot.

"STUPID STUPID STUPID!" Shade yelled as he collapsed into a heap and passed out from all the emotions. And the huge wound on his head of course.

Shine had been watching all of this and felt a huge pain in her heart. This poor Pokemon has such a sweet nature, but he had been forced to kill against his will. Then he helped her, saved her life even, and found out that he had been branded a killer. Shine gasped silently as he smashed his head into the ground and passed out.

Shine walked quickly over to his motionless body with her mouth hanging open. His forehead was bleeding profusely, and his fur looked even worse up close. He didn't even look like he had made an attempt to keep up with himself, and she thought it was kind of cute, that he cared about what she thought of him so much, and how sensitive he really was. She ran her paw across his wound, and got some cobwebs to wrap around his black head. As she picked up his head tenderly to wrap his wound, his rings pulsed slightly and began to glow again. Shine watched them in wonder, and pondered, wondering if his rings reacted to his emotions at the time. Shine smiled and realized that he must finally be at peace.

Shine decided to surprise him when he woke up, so she lit a fire in the edge of his cave and lined it with stones, and cleaned up his whole place a bit. She brought some Oran Berries from a bush she passed on her way in, and laid them out for the both of them. She stopped and realized that he might be uncomfortable and think that this was a date that she had set up for them, then decided that he deserved a nice night, and he would get one from her.

Right around when night was beginning to fall, Shine began to lose her energy, but the fire was giving her the light she needed to still feel refreshed. Shade was getting more power now, and his eyes fluttered open for the first time in almost 18 hours.

Shade put a paw up to his head and felt the cobwebs wrapped around his head, and felt very confused. He didn't remember putting those there. Then Shade heard the crackle of the newly constructed fireplace, which he DEFINITELY didn't put there, and then he saw Shine with a meal in front of her.

Shades jaw dropped as he saw Shine. The fire basked her in a warm, red glow and it made her while body radiate beauty and finesse. She had two Oran berries in front of her sitting on leaves, and they looked delicious.

"Shine, what are you doing here? D...did you wrap my head and do all this?" he asked in awe, gesturing towards the cleaned cave and the fire.

"Of course! After I found your home, I saw you were in pain and anguish, and then you hurt yourself, so I decided that I would make this night special for you." Shine said with pure happiness in her voice.

Shade dropped his head and pawed at the ground. "Y...you saw what I did to myself?" He asked with a touch of regret.

"Yes, and I thought it must have hurt a lot, so I cleaned it and wrapped it! By the way, it's probably time for it to be changed again, so come here..." Shine said as she reached over to remove the bandages.

"N...NO STAY BACK!" Shade yelled, making Shine stop in her tracks. He quickly explained.

"Please tell me, and be honest, did my rings already glow?" he asked, seeming almost scared.

"What? Yeah they've already glowed a while ago, just a bit after you hurt your head, why?" the female Espeon asked.

"Were you near me when they went off?" Shade asked, seeming even more scared this time.

Shine shifted nervously. "Um... Yes? I was kind of holding your head in my arms when I saw your rings glow. It was quite beautiful by the way..." Shine said, blushing slightly.

Shade fell down with his eyes looking defeated.

"Oh no! I knew I should've been more careful! I'm such a moron" he wailed.

Shine wrapped her arms around his head and asked in a soothing voice, "Shade, what's the problem? You can tell me"

"My body heals itself when it senses a wound, and my skin becomes acidic when it happens. I only knew what was happening because of the little red box my character carried around. I think he called it a PokeDex or something. It said that when I was agitated, I sprayed poisonous sweat from my skin. I thought it was fake, and I can't spray anything from my skin, but it seeps into my fur and does something weird to my skin. That's why I have no medicine here, I just clear my mind and I heal." Shade said nervously.

"Oh, well that wouldn't bother me! When I was an Eevee I took a Toxic to the face from a nasty Zorua, and I was never affected much by Poison types after that!" Shine said with a smile on her face.

Shade breathed a huge sigh of relief and wrapped Shine in a huge hug. Shine's eyes widened, as the last hug she had gotten was from her mother and father before the ceremony, and she collapsed onto Shade's strong shoulders and hugged him right back. They finally broke their hug and looked each other in the eyes nervously.

"So, shall we eat?" Shine asked.

"Of course! It looks delicious! Shade exclaimed as he unwrapped the bandages and put them aside.

As Shade padded over to the fantastic looking dinner, he thought about the red box a bit more to himself. "Actually, now that I think about it, his box said different things about me when we travelled to different places. In the Johto region, it told about my poison skin, but in another area close by, it said that when darkness falls, my rings began to glow, and I struck fear into anyone's hearts that was nearby. But the really weird one was in the Sinnoh region I think. It said that when i was exposed to the moon's aura, the rings on my body glowed a bit, and I gained some type of mysterious power. I wonder if..."

"Shade! Hurry up! It's only a few feet, silly! You can't be hurt that badly." Shine pouted, wanting to show off her dinner.

"W-what? Well sorryyy Ms. Princess, I'll hurry up!" Shade retorted playfully.

"Maybe, just maybe, things would be ok." he thought before digging into the meal.


	8. Chapter 8: Confession

"Well, when I first saw you in the clearing being pinned by Slash the Zangoose, I didn't feel anything. The old me would've felt anger or courage to rescue you, but after all the k-killing, I was nothing. I was about to walk away, but then I saw your eyes. Your eyes were completely lifeless and empty. I felt like you had a story to tell, and for some reason I wanted to . The battle with Slash was a cinch really, and After I k-killed Slash, your eyes had something new in them, like hope or regret. I didn't want to leave you, so I kept myself busy, but I couldn't stop thinking about you. After you woke up and I played a trick on you, your eyes were completely normal, and you looked like you had regained your will to live. When you told me my colors changed because I k-killed, it was obvious that I had k-k-killed before. I was proud of my reputation before you told me that, but it was a crushing blow to know I would always be branded a killer, so I just lost it and ran away." Shade said with sorrow in his voice.

Shine had continued to lay against him, and it amazed her how much it was calming him. Every time she felt his breath catch in his chest he looked down at her and continued with resolve. He was obviously very uncomfortable telling her this, but he seemed to keep going for her. She loved leaning on him as well, his chest was so warm and his voice gave her so much security. Shade had stopped now, and his magnificent red eyes darted around the room, obviously nervous for what he was going to say next. Shine wondered what it was, but didn't push him, because she knew he needed to take his own pace. He was seeming to have real trouble saying the word "Kill" now and he stuttered each time he had to. Shine thought this was a true sign of how he really felt about his actions, and it made her feel how much he really cared.

"Back at the cave, I just lost all hope. I had revealed my deadly past to you, without even wanting to. I loved how you made me feel for the small time we were in the forest, it was truly the most fun I had probably had in months. Then I just ran away from my deeds like a coward, leaving you alone in the woods with no more conversation. I felt like absolute shit, and I just wanted it to stop. All the voices and shadows that plagued me kept beating me down, and I wanted out. For some god awful reason, I tried to make them stop, but I went way to far and hurt myself too much. I'm just so useless and I can't deal with my idiotic deeds. I wish I could take it all back, b-BUT I CAN'T!"

Shade finally broke down for the final time and crumbled, looking totally defeated.

"I-I was so scared to lose you because I acted like a total jerk when we first met, then you find out I'm a psycho right after. I'm such a wimp, I couldn't even face up to my actions! At least now you know the full story." Shade said sadly.

Shine locked eyes with him and said soothingly,

"Shade, you are an amazing Pokemon, and you need to get over your past. Everyone makes mistakes and you have to accept them! I know it's not easy, but I can help you recover. You have never had anyone love you your entire life, no parents, no friends, no anything, and I'm going to change that. We should go on a trip, or an adventure somewhere, anywhere, and try to forget our old lives." Shine finished with a sad smile.

"R-really? You would want to do that with me?" Shade asked quietly.

"Of course, but not just with you! I think you need to branch out and meet new Pokemon. You're kind of a recluse living in this creepy cave in a dark forest anyways... plus, when you're around Pokemon more, you'll be less awkward!" Shine said.

"Hey! I'm not a recluse or awkward!" Shade said in mock anger. "I just prefer to be alone at any given time and I don't like talking to others if I don't have to!"

"Well why did you talk to me then? You could have left after you saved me, but you wanted to stay. Why is that?" Shine asked innocently, although secretly she knew why.

"U-um, w-well... it's getting quite late isn't it? Shade asked, trying to end the conversation.

"Shade. You're a god damn Dark type! You get more energy when it's late! Stop giving me shit and tell me the truth!" Shine said in a false fierce tone, wanting to hear him say it. She found it hilarious how nervous he was, and it took all she had in her not to crack up.

"W-w-well i-if you re-really want to know why... i-its aaaahhhhh because I-I... WHAT THE HELL?" Shade exclaimed as a dark blur ran into the cave and slammed into one of the walls, the wind blowing the fire out.

Shine screamed and jumped behind Shade, who had quickly stepped in front of her. Shine gaped at the mysterious figure, who was covered with cuts and dirt. The intruder slowly lifted it's head, setting it's shimmering black eyes on the two Pokemon in front of it. Shine went to ask Shade who it was, then recoiled slowly. Just a few seconds ago, he was blushing and stuttering like a young Eevee, but after he saw the figure stumble in, something had changed about him. Shade's ears were flattened against his head, and he was in a slightly crouched position, looking at the intruder with his cold, emotionless red eyes. Shine looked dumbly at Shade as she saw his pelt begin to slowly turn a few shades darker, making him blend in with the cave. Shade responded by simply blocking more of her body with his, and shooting a terrifying glare her way that told her to stay out of sight. Shine tried to get closer to see what the thing was, but froze, her maw opening in a mix of surprise and fear.

Shade's rings had started to glow.

* * *

><p>Hello Pokefans! My name is Shade, (no I'm not an Umbreon) and I hope you're all enjoying my story! We've just hit 400 views, which is totally awesome! Thank you all for making a day of boredom and a small idea come this far :3 I made this account last week on a whim, and decided I wanted to write a story about an underdog-like sociopath, and here we are! The characters in this story have no affiliations with anyone in his world, but let's all agree having Pokemon would be rad as hell! X)<p>

I made the grave mistake of locking in on a pen name after I wrote my story, so now I have hordes of people if Shade is based off of me, which is not true. Strangely, I've also been asked if I'm an Umbreon, to which I can only answer "I wish" XD

I've also been destroyed with feedback about the POV change, and the vast majority seems to want first person back, which is cool with me! I've always liked first person more, because third just feels so detached from the characters, but it makes it sooooo easy to set up a setting :) I can't keep writing both sides though, so I'm going to focus this story on our Umbreon friend most of the time, but I'll switch to Shine or other Pokemon when certain events unfold...(ooh spoilers :3) I also apologize to everyone for my writing style! I love using suspense, and most of the chapters have ended in cliff-hangers. get ready for more of that! ;D

But it's not over yet! With lots of help from my friend Minicon2199 (awesome dude), endless ideas from amazing supporters, and all the others who talked to me on PM or left a review, Shade and Shine will continue! Our heroes are going to start an Exploration Team to train, meet new people, and liberate this region (Kalos) from corrupt and power-hungry evildoers :D (Basically a mix of Assassins Creed and Pokemon, lol). I'm writing to the best of my abilities, and a new chapter should be out every 3-4 days!

I should upload on time, but in case I don't, I'll have it up within another day for sure. Feel free to spam me if I forget to upload, and I do apologize in advance for any of the spelling/grammatical errors that I missed while editing :s Writing is tough with my current schedule right now, but I should be able to get into a comfortable pattern in about a week :)

Thanks again for all this support, it's truly phenomenal, and I hope you enjoy the chapters to come!

-Shade


	9. Chapter 9: Revelations

***This chapter is being uploaded late as I had a huge test :/ I got a 95 though, so as an apology and a celebration, I'll be uploading two chapters back-to-back! You lucky ducks... ;)**

* * *

><p>"Well, when I first saw you in the clearing being pinned by Slash the Zangoose, I didn't feel anything. The old me would've felt anger or courage to rescue you, but after all the k-killing, I was nothing. I was about to walk away, but then I saw your eyes. Your eyes were completely lifeless and empty. I felt like you had a story to tell, and for some reason I wanted to . The battle with Slash was a cinch really, and After I k-killed Slash, your eyes had something new in them, like hope or regret. I didn't want to leave you, so I kept myself busy, but I couldn't stop thinking about you. After you woke up and I played a trick on you, your eyes were completely normal, and you looked like you had regained your will to live. When you told me my colors changed because I k-killed, it was obvious that I had k-k-killed before. I was proud of my reputation before you told me that, but it was a crushing blow to know I would always be branded a killer, so I just lost it and ran away." Shade said with sorrow in his voice.<p>

Shine had continued to lay against him, and it amazed her how much it was calming him. Every time she felt his breath catch in his chest he looked down at her and continued with resolve. He was obviously very uncomfortable telling her this, but he seemed to keep going for her. She loved leaning on him as well, his chest was so warm and his voice gave her so much security. Shade had stopped now, and his magnificent red eyes darted around the room, obviously nervous for what he was going to say next. Shine wondered what it was, but didn't push him, because she knew he needed to take his own pace. He was seeming to have real trouble saying the word "Kill" now and he stuttered each time he had to. Shine thought this was a true sign of how he really felt about his actions, and it made her feel how much he really cared.

"Back at the cave, I just lost all hope. I had revealed my deadly past to you, without even wanting to. I loved how you made me feel for the small time we were in the forest, it was truly the most fun I had probably had in months. Then I just ran away from my deeds like a coward, leaving you alone in the woods with no more conversation. I felt like absolute shit, and I just wanted it to stop. All the voices and shadows that plagued me kept beating me down, and I wanted out. For some god awful reason, I tried to make them stop, but I went way to far and hurt myself too much. I'm just so useless and I can't deal with my idiotic deeds. I wish I could take it all back, b-BUT I CAN'T!"

Shade finally broke down for the final time and crumbled, looking totally defeated.

"I-I was so scared to lose you because I acted like a total jerk when we first met, then you find out I'm a psycho right after. I'm such a wimp, I couldn't even face up to my actions! At least now you know the full story." Shade said sadly.

Shine locked eyes with him and said soothingly,

"Shade, you are an amazing Pokemon, and you need to get over your past. Everyone makes mistakes and you have to accept them! I know it's not easy, but I can help you recover. You have never had anyone love you your entire life, no parents, no friends, no anything, and I'm going to change that. We should go on a trip, or an adventure somewhere, anywhere, and try to forget our old lives." Shine finished with a sad smile.

"R-really? You would want to do that with me?" Shade asked quietly.

"Of course, but not just with you! I think you need to branch out and meet new Pokemon. You're kind of a recluse living in this creepy cave in a dark forest anyways... plus, when you're around Pokemon more, you'll be less awkward!" Shine said.

"Hey! I'm not a recluse or awkward!" Shade said in mock anger. "I just prefer to be alone at any given time and I don't like talking to others if I don't have to!"

"Well why did you talk to me then? You could have left after you saved me, but you wanted to stay. Why is that?" Shine asked innocently, although secretly she knew why.

"U-um, w-well... it's getting quite late isn't it? Shade asked, trying to end the conversation.

"Shade. You're a god damn Dark type! You get more energy when it's late! Stop giving me shit and tell me the truth!" Shine said in a false fierce tone, wanting to hear him say it. She found it hilarious how nervous he was, and it took all she had in her not to crack up.

"W-w-well i-if you re-really want to know why... i-its aaaahhhhh because I-I... WHAT THE HELL?" Shade exclaimed as a dark blur ran into the cave and slammed into one of the walls, the wind blowing the fire out.

Shine screamed and jumped behind Shade, who had quickly stepped in front of her. Shine gaped at the mysterious figure, who was covered with cuts and dirt. The intruder slowly lifted it's head, setting it's shimmering black eyes on the two Pokemon in front of it. Shine went to ask Shade who it was, then recoiled slowly. Just a few seconds ago, he was blushing and stuttering like a young Eevee, but after he saw the figure stumble in, something had changed about him. Shade's ears were flattened against his head, and he was in a slightly crouched position, looking at the intruder with his cold, emotionless red eyes. Shine looked dumbly at Shade as she saw his pelt begin to slowly turn a few shades darker, making him blend in with the cave. Shade responded by simply blocking more of her body with his, and shooting a terrifying glare her way that told her to stay out of sight. Shine tried to get closer to see what the thing was, but froze, her maw opening in a mix of surprise and fear.

Shade's rings had started to glow.

* * *

><p><strong>Hello Pokefans! My name is Shade, (no I'm not an Umbreon) and I hope you're all enjoying my story! We've just hit 400 views, which is totally awesome! Thank you all for making a day of boredom and a small idea come this far :3 I made this account last week on a whim, and decided I wanted to write a story about an underdog-like sociopath, and here we are! The characters in this story have no affiliations with anyone in his world, but let's all agree having Pokemon would be rad as hell! X)<strong>

**I made the grave mistake of locking in on a pen name after I wrote my story, so now I have hordes of people if Shade is based off of me, which is not true. Strangely, I've also been asked if I'm an Umbreon, to which I can only answer "I wish" XD**

**I've also been destroyed with feedback about the POV change, and the vast majority seems to want first person back, which is cool with me! I've always liked first person more, because third just feels so detached from the characters, but it makes it sooooo easy to set up a setting :) I can't keep writing both sides though, so I'm going to focus this story on our Umbreon friend most of the time, but I'll switch to Shine or other Pokemon when certain events unfold...(ooh spoilers :3) I also apologize to everyone for my writing style! I love using suspense, and most of the chapters have ended in cliff-hangers. get ready for more of that! ;D**

**But it's not over yet! With lots of help from my friend Minicon2199 (awesome dude), endless ideas from amazing supporters, and all the others who talked to me on PM or left a review, Shade and Shine will continue! Our heroes are going to start an Exploration Team to train, meet new people, and liberate this region (Kalos) from corrupt and power-hungry evildoers :D (Basically a mix of Assassins Creed and Pokemon, lol). I'm writing to the best of my abilities, and a new chapter should be out every 3-4 days!**

**I should upload on time, but in case I don't, I'll have it up within another day for sure. Feel free to spam me if I forget to upload, and I do apologize in advance for any of the spelling/grammatical errors that I missed while editing :s Writing is tough with my current schedule right now, but I should be able to get into a comfortable pattern in about a week :)**

**Thanks again for all this support, it's truly phenomenal, and I hope you enjoy the chapters to come!**

**-Shade 3**


	10. Chapter 10: Intruder

**Hello my loyal readers! This is the first part of the installment of my story, and let's just say theres more than a few goodies in here! ;) Y'all are awesome for all this support, and we've almost hit 200 more views since my last upload! **

**I'm writing this during my finals for college, so if I don't upload on time I'm terribly sorry, but after I take my tests I'll be able to talk with you guys and gals a lot more! ;D But I'll probably be doing most of my writing on weekends, and breaks :/**

**In regards to some reviewers, I never force myself to write. I write when I feel inspired and when I have time :) Writing is one of my greatest passions in life, and I'll never force myself to do it just for views.**

**Speaking of views, we hit 600! That's 200 views in like 4 days! That's absolutely mind boggling! We also hit 10 reviews, and it's so cool talking to you all and hearing your input and new ideas for the story! Thanks for helping me out, and you may just see your input in these next chapters ;)**

**I've also started making the chapters longer, because 1k words really isn't enough when you sit down and read it :/ So expect 2k or even 3k word chapters! The story won't be moving forward very much, but a lot of backstory and detail has been added so this story feels really legit!**

**Also, I'm considering writing a Lion King fanfic on top of this one with Simba and Nala as cubs, but I want your input! Idk if you peeps wanna read that at all, so just let me know if ya can! (It will be a short romance story, probably like 8 chaps) Drop a review if you want, and lets resolve Chapter 9's cliffhanger! ;) **

**Love to all of you *mwah***

**-Shade 3**

* * *

><p><span>Shades POV (you're welcome) ;)<span>

_Freaking Shine. She knows what she's doing! I just get all deep with her, and now she's trying to get me to say how I truly feel about her! Why did this have to happen now?_

I looked up at Shine, searching her ocean-colored eyes for any hint of mercy towards me. I saw none. I felt my stomach flop, and I thought quick, trying to stop the conversation.

"U-um, w-well... it's getting quite late isn't it? I asked, hoping to end the talk peacefully. Wrong move. I looked at Shine, who had a dark look on her face. Oh no.

"Shade. You're a god damn Dark type! You get more energy when it's late! Stop giving me shit and tell me the truth!" Shine hissed, her eyes boring into me. I felt my face flush and gave up, knowing that she wouldn't stop until I told her. I looked at her again, and I thought I saw her stifling a smile.

"_Why would she be smiling? Unless... she likes this? Does she like me? Of course not! Stop telling yourself lies! But what if she does..? STOP IT SHADE!" _I struggled silently, not sure what to do.

"Helllloooooo? Before we're old please?" Shine said innocently, but I saw fire flash in her eyes, almost seeming to advise me to start talking.

I sank down slowly, and felt myself tremble as I cleared my throat. _"No, you know what? Who cares anymore? She totally wants to hear me say this, so that's what I'll do! I didn't spend all this time training to be taken out by a little crush! But since she likes seeing me this nervous, I'll play her little game and give her what she wants." _I thought to myself, smiling smugly inside. I opened my maw again, and made sure to tremble on purpose and stutter.

"W-w-well i-if you re-really want to know why... i-its u-um... because I-I... WHAT THE HELL?" I roared, seeing something sprint into my home and smash into the wall. At first time seemed to slow down. I faintly heard Shine squeal in fear, from somewhere to my side. I saw the intruder look up at her and grin. Then I looked at the cave's entrance, and to my surprise, I saw a full moon. I shook my head, trying to clear my head from te momentary pause.

I had no clue who this fool was, I quickly thought of all of my enemies in the forest who would want to kill me, then I realized I had killed them all. So this was a rogue. Why the hell would a rogue attack me? I turned my head towards Shine to see her standing terrified and realized that her safety was more important than an explanation right now.

I stepped in front of her to break the other's gaze with her and stared at the intruder coldly. Shine tried to peek at the Pokemon, but I simply moved in front of her again. I didn't know who they were, but I did not like how he grinned at her almost instantly. He stared at me right back, and looked at Shine again. Then he bared his teeth at me and began to stand up.

I grimaced and knew that I would have to intimidate this mystery Pokemon to make him stop. I didn't want to let Shine see me like this again, but it couldn't be helped. I peered towards the full moon and began to soak the power in. I felt my coat turning darker, as it did every full moon. I let the power flow through my body and felt rings to begin to glow their bright green. That was one of the drawbacks of being an Umbreon, I could control my ring's brightness most of the time, but on a full moon they were unstoppably bright.

I heard Shine gasp behind me, and I quickly turned my head and smiled, letting her know that it wasn't my ability and that I was still me. Her eyes showed a huge amount of relief, and then gasped again in horror.

"SHADE! LOOK OUT!" Shine screamed. With that I heard something smash into my head and wobbled a bit, slightly amazed at how little it had hurt. I faced the intruder standing in front of me, whose eyes had gone from triumphant to horrified.

"Ooh. Bad move bud. You really shouldn't have done that." I growled, feeling rage starting to build up in my chest. At this distance I could see that our intruder was a male Pokemon with weird spikes jutting out of his back.

"Hey! Calm down you dick, I didn't know you could brush off one of my attacks. I wouldn't have attacked you if I knew that." he said with a smug smile on his face. I heard Shine sharply inhale and knew that wasn't a good thing to say.

"Oh really? So you like to hurt helpless Pokemon? You may want to close that mouth of yours before you say something you'll regret later" I warned, feeling my rage build more and my rings glowing brighter.

"What the..? Are you some kind of freak? Who has green rings?" he chortled. As he laughed I felt my face grow hot.

"Kid, this is the last time I warn you. You need to leave my home and land right now. Or will I have to throw you off?" I said in a dangerously calm voice. He glared hard at me. I wished I could see him better, because I was limited to seeing just a faint outline of his body. He looked to be slightly bigger than me, and a whole lot bigger than Shine.

"Ha! I don't think so! I spent days tracking to find her, and I'm not just going to leave her without a fight! Especially not with a disgraceful Dark type!" he barked, and grinned at Shine.

Whoops, wrong thing to say again.

In a split second I felt myself lose it. No one was going to hurt Shine ever again, until I drew my last breath. I had to see who this punk really was, I charged a huge Shadow Ball as fast as I could, and pointed it at him, grinning when I saw him back up. Shine yelped in fear, and I silenced her with a quick flick of my tail. She looked at me curiously, but kept quiet.

"Oh this isn't for you. It's so we can finally see who our little visitor is. I think he's begun to overstay his welcome, so lets clear him an exit, shall we?" I asked Shine evilly. Her eyes widened in realization of what I was going to do.

"Shade NO! This is your home!" Shine yelled.

I looked at her blankly, then grimaced. "It's a house, Shine, not a home." and pointed my head towards the ceiling and let the ball loose. It tore completely through the roof, and they both stared in awe. I was quite happy with how things worked out, because I hated that stupid cave anyway. Shine's jaw dropped again at something I couldn't see, and I turned around to see our little friend frozen in place. I chuckled, then I felt it vanish as quickly as it had come.

There was a huge boulder about to fall off of the roof.

"Hey you idiot! GET OUT OF THERE!" I yelled at him as the boulder began to slide off the roof towards him. He was still rooted to the spot, and he didn't look to be moving anytime soon.

No more. I just stared at this stranger. He had broken into my house, hit me, was disrespectful, and came just to take Shine. Yet I felt like I wanted to help him. No one deserved to die for a pointless reason, and I knew that al too well. Because of my mistakes I had the blood of hundreds of enemies on my paws, and I needed to stop causing people to die. I hated this Pokemon, but I knew that it was the right thing to do.

I growled lowly, and felt my ability begin to activate. With the increased speed, I looked over at Shine and mouthed "I'm sorry" Shine looked at me in shock. With a single lunge I flew forward just as the boulder dislodged from the roof.

Shine's POV

_"__Great, Shade, you've destroyed your house now. Why are you so on edge?"_ Shine pondered as she watched the dust settle.

In his defense, the other Pokemon was awful to Shade. I was amazed that Shade didn't rip his head off right after the Pokemon hit him so forcefully. I was even more impressed when Shade got so mad after the other Pokemon implied that he would have hurt other Pokemon.

_"__He must really be trying to hold his temper back and change. I wonder why he's doing this. Normally he would be tearing this Pokemon apart. Maybe he really does want to change." _I thought as the dust finally settled. I peered around Shade again to see the Pokemon in the moonlight, but I was not ready for what I saw.

It was Jolt.

I felt a lump form in my throat, and I stood there frozen, just staring at him. He froze and stared right back. I opened my mouth to say something to Jolt, but instead I heard Shade's voice.

"Hey you idiot! GET OUT OF THERE!" Shade yelled at him, with a touch of panic in his voice. I dumbly looked up and saw a huge boulder beginning to dislodge from the roof of the cave. Shade stood next to me, and I could see his body quivering. Then in a second Shade's rings started blazing in their brilliant green, and he turned to face me and mouthed that he was sorry. I cocked my head curiously, then snapped up as I realized what he was going to do.

_"__No, Shade wouldn't do that! That's not like him! Why is he helping Jolt?!" _My thoughts screamed through my body like a banshee, and as I opened my mouth to tell him to wait, he turned away and leapt towards Jolt just as the boulder dislodged from it's perch on the roof. Shade was a complete blur as he sprinted towards Jolt, and I watched in horror as I realized he wasn't going to make it. But Shade saw what I saw as well. He didn't stop, but instead charged a quick Shadow Ball and spat it towards Jolt's feet, who went flying as soon as the energy ball exploded on the ground. Jolt smacked against a wall and began to attempt to get up.

I breathed a huge sigh of relief, and ran to tend to Jolt until I realized something that made the blood crash through my ears like an Exploud had just yelled.

The boulder had almost fallen. Shade wasn't on the other side.


	11. Chapter 11: Gods

**Holy Shinx guys! Over 300 views in one night?! You people are insane, not that I'm complaining XD**

**If this is the support I get from a couple of chapters in around 7 hours, maybe I should be uploading every 1-2 days... lol**

**As a special little treat, I'll upload this right after the next two. That's three chapters in less than 24 hours, so please don't expect this for chapters to come...because I can't feel my fingers anymore...help...**

**Well I'll cut to the chase! Enjoy the chapter, and I've created a forum and community if PM isn't your style ;D It'll be chill, so swing by and hit me up sometime! The reviews for all the chapters will be at the end, and thanks again! (^_^)/**

**-Shade**

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><p><span>Shades POV<span>

I wasn't going to make it.

Even at my breakneck speed, the boulder was going too fast. I quickly thought back to training with my horrible human, and how Dark Types and Electric types were equally matched in battle. A Shadow Ball wouldn't kill him. I felt a pang of fear for the first time in weeks. I knew I would be trapped underneath the boulder, and probably killed. But for some reason I kept going.

_"__What am I doing? This isn't who I am! I'm the lone wolf, the black sheep, the loser; I don't help others! But ever since I saved Shine, it just felt right when I did it. I did awful things to innocent Pokemon, and I can never forgive myself for that. Arceus, I'm sorry, just let this Pokemon live. That way I know someone will at least watch Shine. Thank you." _I thought silently. "_But I won't give up yet. No, I'm going to fight until I can't feel anything anymore. I'll never give up again! I will come back to Shine, and thats a promise!" _I grunted as I let the Shadow Ball loose and watched in admiration as the Pokemon flew out of the way of the boulder.

_"__Thank you Arceus" _I prayed silently as I slammed onto the ground with the boulder only a few paw lengths from my face. I closed my eyes and waited for death.

**_"_****_Hmm. This is truly a twist. Shade, what will I do with you?"_** A powerful voice reverberated throughout my head.

I opened my eyes in confusion and felt my jaw drop. I was standing in front of Arceus, the God Pokemon. I immediately bowed in front of him, and kept my head down until I heard him chuckle.

**_"_****_You mortals are all the same. Why do you bow to me, Shade?" _**Arceus asked. I cautiously lifted my head and cleared my throat.

"W-well your Majesty, you're the God Pokemon. I know that your presence commands ultimate respect, and I don't want to disrespect you. Especially because you answered my calls twice. Once from that evil Seviper, and once more just recently, when you gave me the power to save that Pokemon." I stammered, trying to sound very formal.

**_"_****_Well. That's the best answer I've ever gotten. Now Shade, you should know that you are supposed to be dead. However, I need to ask you WHY you saved 'that Pokemon'. You didn't even know him, so why did you save him?" _**Arceus asked. This time, I knew exactly what I would say. I just hoped he would accept the truth.

"Sir, I have caused the deaths of exactly 142 Pokemon. They attacked me first, but I finished the act. It is my worst deed ever, and I will never forgive myself for it. But when I saved Shine, the Espeon, I felt like something in me had been filled. I never, ever wanted to take an innocent life again, even if they tried to take mine. Then I found out I was cursed with these green rings. I will forever be branded a monster, and it's awful." I motioned to my body with the emerald green rings.

"My life is hardly worth living with my actions. But I would kill to protect my loved ones from harm. When I saw him about to me crushed by the boulder, I was so confused. I wanted to feel happy, because he hit me, he insulted me, and he was cruel when he said he didn't mean to attack me because I was strong. But he was an innocent. I've murdered too many to bear, and I was not going to let him die because he hurt me. So I saved him, simple as that" I said strongly, although inside my heart ached. I remembered each and every kill, but I had never told anyone else the number.

Arceus stared at me with his emerald green eyes. Then he spoke.

**_"_****_You have no idea, do you?" _**Arceus asked with shock in his voice.

"W-what?" I said quietly. What was he talking about?

**_"_****_Shade, I don't know where you got the idea that the green rings mark you as a killer. When you called for my help, I gave you the drive you needed to win the battle. The green is a symbol of power and courage. You didn't realize that my eyes are the same color?" _**Arceus asked, seeming slightly amused.

"B-but Shine told me that it was a mark of killing others!" I said on the verge of tears.

**_"_****_What were her exact words?" _**Arceus asked me calmly.

"Um... she said that she had no idea why, unless I 'killed Pokemon when I was fighting' or something like that." I said shakily.

**_"_****_Goodness me. Shade, you need to observe things more carefully. I didn't give you your color change, you did. When you finally crawled out of your shell and faced your enemy, you showed both of those traits. Therefore, you gained the royal colors."_** Arceus explained softly.

**_"_****_It's unobtainable by most Pokemon, because they haven't suffered enough to find a need to rebel. You're one of the two Pokemon to accomplish this ever, a Lucario that passed a long while back was the first, to accomplish this. Shine is from a tribe, and whenever they hear of something, their elders make an excuse for it, usually making the Pokemon that gained a new talent seem like a monster. It's not her fault, she doesn't know any better." _**Arceus finished with a small smile on his narrow face.

"S-so I'm not going to be known as a killer?" I sniffed, feeling my chest swell with happiness.

**_"_****_No, you will. Because next to no one knows about this, they will continue to think of you as a killer. You have to move past them, Shade. Others will always look at you differently from now on. You have Shine, who accepts who you really are, and not who you used to be. Believe it or not, I'm sure others will understand as well. Just give it time." _**Arceus said with a convincing voice.

"I trust you Arceus. But why did you say from now on? I'm dead aren't I?" I asked in confusion.

**_"_****_It is true, you are _****_close_****_ to death. You are still alive Shade. I stopped time with the help of Palkia, so I could evaluate you. You have made many Pokemon appear in front of me; the ones you have killed. I'm impressed you told the truth, as it is a scarily large number." _**Arceus said with a sad sigh.

I just hung my head and felt tears well up in my eyes. It was best if I died, I was awful.

"Just let me die, I can't just move on. It'll haunt me forever, but I know it's for the best." I said quietly.

Arceus cocked an eyebrow and spoke with a steely voice.

**_"_****_Shade, I judge all of the dead. I speak with them all personally. All of the Pokemon who attacked you admitted to starting the fight, but they all also mentioned something about your fighting style. You killed them quickly and didn't make one of them suffer. They all said they saw your eyes flicker when you killed them. Do you know of this?" _**

I gritted my teeth. This was exactly where I hoped it wouldn't go. But I had to tell the truth.

"Whenever I used to kill, I felt something seem to click inside of me, and my vision blurred for a few minutes after. I don't know why, but it felt very different." I said stoically.

**_"_****_Mhmm. It's exactly as I thought. Shade, you mentioned having demons inside of you, did you not?" _** Arceus asked.

"Y-yes. They haunt my dreams and sometimes when I'm awake. Some days I can ward them off, but others, they're too powerful." I said slowly.

**_"_****_They are your victims, and they will never leave. I allowed them all to haunt you." _**Arceus murmured.

"WHAT? WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?! IT'S UNBEARABLE!" I yelled at my God, before collapsing in sobs.

**_"_****_And yet I hold the spirits of the whole universe. It makes you stronger, Shade. They can lend you their power if you ever need it in battle. Your eyes are a more difficult explanation. You have another side to you from all this killing. When you killed, it lead to you bottling up more and more grief, and that condensed into rage. If you had continued to kill, you would have changed forever and been a true monster." _**Arceus explained.

"I just want to apologize to them all. I wish it had never happened." I said with tears stinging my eyes. As I lifted my paw up to wipe my eyes, I saw a small shadow appear on my paw. I felt my jaw drop as I recognized it to be that Seviper I had killed, the one that started it all.

"Y-you... Why are you here?" I asked in a painful voice, trying not to make eye contact with him.

"You killed me, so I should hate you. But I was being more cruel than you were. I deserved to die. I'm a monster that tried to kill a scared Eevee who was lost. To that, I owe you my utmost apologies. Please accept my spirit to assist you in battle." he said quietly.

"I-I... Of course. I'd be glad to have you as a part of me. Please forgive me for killing you. If we could have just talked this wouldn't have happened..." I said, but my voice cracked before I could finish.

The Seviper smiled and said, "Of course I do. No one deserves what I did to you. You got guts kid. You've earned my respect. My name is Revi, in case you wanted to know."

I gave a watery smile to Revi, and he dissolved into my fur.

"What was that?" I asked Arceus in awe.

**_"_****_He is working with you now. He had an unclear conscience about you, so I let him wait for you so he could apologize. Not all of your victims will be so kind, and 34 of them have gone to the Spirit world, because they have nothing they need to say to you." _**Arceus said.

**_"_****_They will come to you in dreams most of the time, and some will be painful. But if you speak from your heart, you will be fine"_**

**_"_****_Now onto more pressing matters. You are 3 paw lengths from death by a large rock, and even at your outrageously high level, you cannot dodge it. You will have to fight like you never have before. But before I go into that, do you want to go back?_**

I stood there silently. I would never fit in with everyone ever again, and they would know I'm a monster. But despite all that, I had to be with Shine, and I wanted to show my demons that I had changed as a Pokemon. I'm tired of being the wimpy Eevee i always have been. I killed to stop being a wimp, and that nearly corrupted me. I am going to defend the weak and save them from the oppressive, even if it means I have to battle Pokemon more powerful than I am, and deal with the hell of being a known killer. I stood up straight and stared Arceus dead in the eyes and he nodded after a bit, almost seeming to read my thoughts.

**_"_****_I was right about you Shade, you are sorry for what you did, and unlike others, you are willing to go through torture to fix it. I will send you back. Before that, I think I need to adjust something about you really quickly. Will you trust me?" _**Arceus asked.

I stiffened, but agreed to his proposal.

**_"_****_Very good. Mew, could you come here please?"_** Arceus asked, and I almost passed out as I saw two of the most important and powerful Pokemon in history right in front of me.

**_"_****_Mew, his red eyes no longer suit his personality. Will you change them to a more suitable color?" _**Arceus asked with a grin.

**_"_****_Mewmewww!"_** Mew giggled as I stood there in fear. Mew circled around my head, then stared at me intently. Mew smiled once more, then moved it's pink tail towards my eyes. I stood looking at the New Species Pokemon in awe, and a bright flash blinded me for a second. When I blinked again, the world seemed a bit lighter.

I looked at Arceus in wonder, and he laughed in a gravelly voice.

**_"_****_Amazing job Mew! This fits him perfectly!" _**Arceus exclaimed and thanked Mew.

Mew smiled warmly at Arceus and gave me a thumbs up with a grin, then floated away.

Arceus looked down at me and continued.

**_"_****_We will not see each other this way again, hopefully. I am very proud of you Shade, and your bravery is astonishing. Thank you for giving me newfound hope for Pokemon." _**Arceus said in a truthful tone, his emerald eyes sparkling.

"And thank you for letting me live. I won't disappoint you. But I have one last question." I said curiously.

**_"_****_Oh? What would that be?" _** Arceus asked, not expecting this.

"What happens if I do let my other personality take over?" I asked in a worried tone.

Arceus stared at me wistfully and said **_"Let's hope that never happens. But your red eye color has been moved to that personality, so it will be very easy for your companions to tell and get to safety if you change." _**

I smiled and thanked Arceus once again. He looked at the sky and said some silent words.

**_"_****_Palkia will be letting the time break go any second. If you ever need help, just reach out with your mind. Good luck, Shade."_** Arceus said warmly.

I smiled back and nodded, and closed my eyes. I felt my body whoosing through some type of tunnel, and when I opened my eyes, a boulder was falling towards my face. I heard Shine cry out, and felt something new flow through my body. It was a feeling of desire and motivation, I was not giving up.

Never again.

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><p><strong>Ooh, that was pretty exciting, huh? This was a blast to write, so let me know what ya think!<strong>

**Reviews**** (most of these will be very old, so bear with me)**

SHINY NINETAILS- **Well thank you! Grammar is really a pet peeve of mine, and I'm a complete stickler for it :P In regards to suspense and twists, theres gonna be a lot more of that ;)**

Guest- **Aha merci beaucoup! The whole story will be very dark, so hold onto your metaphorical hat!**

Minicon2199- **Our Umbreon friend has a lot more in store for us, and his ethics were clouded by fear and rage for a bit. He'll be much more sensible in chapters to come! :)**

arcanineandlucariofan- **Thanks for the support, and I hope you'll stay with it for the next few chapters, theres some crazy stuff coming up! ;D**

Chardineno- **I'm glad you like it! These are my fav types of things to write about! **

Guest- **Don't worry, I would never force myself to write if I really didn't want to. This story has at least a good thirty chapters left in it, and abandoning a story mid-action is just wrong to me XD I would have a totally unfinished feeling, which would suck.**

Pickle-** That name is majestic. Again, I never force myself to write. I don't like writing until I start writing, so when I make myself start, thats when I enjoy it lol. Idk if I can lose interest in this story tbh, it's just so much fun to write! Updates will be coming faster now as well.**

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><p><strong>Well that's it folks! If I get any more reviews they'll be slipped into the next chapter's ending as well, so leave one if you have some feedback for me! Take care 3<strong>

**-Shade**


	12. Chapter 12: Friend or Foe?

**Disclaimer: I was beaten on pretty heavily for not having a disclaimer, so in case y'all didn't know, I don't own Pokemon. Just FYI...**

**Hello again! What a great turnout last chapter! I'm so glad to hear all of your input and different ideas! Having such a great community is truly amazing :3**

**My finals are over, so that means a new chapter every 2-3 days now! I know, I know, I'm pretttttty awesome, thank me later ;D**

**The feedback on the Lion King story was mixed, so I've just been working on a few ideas for it and some other projects *hint hint***

**If I get some solid feedback that lets me know people would want to read it, then I'll gladly start writing it. If I get a 'meh' I'll just keep doing what I'm doing! XD Let me know what ya think ;)**

**Also, don't be afraid to PM me, I promise I'll only bite a lil bit :P Talking to you guys is really fun, and I'll never be insulted by any feedback!**

**Aha sorry about the long preface, I'll try to keep it short from now on :) Thanks for all the support, and this chappy will be a bit longer, getting close to 4k words ;) Enjoy it!**

**-Shade **

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><p><span>Shine's POV<span>

Shade. No, no, no, no! Even at his level there's no way he could have survived that!

"SHADE!" I screamed in horror, flinging myself towards the boulder to try to knock it away. But before I even arrived there, I saw something impossible happen.

The boulder moved.

I stopped dead in my tracks, and looked over at Jolt, who nodded at me, signaling that he saw it as well. I took another step and it moved again. Then, out of nowhere, it started to rise up. I gasped, because that boulder must be over 4,000 pounds! I saw a familiar green glow from a crack in the ground, and tried to help Shade lift it up.

"SHINE! BACK!" Shade commanded, his voice full of pain.

"SHADE! H-HOW ARE YOU...?" I stopped, trying to get my brain to believe my eyes.

"SHINE! GET! BACK! NOWWWW!" he barked, making me jump.

"I...HAVE...TO...THROW...IT! G-GET OUTSIDE! TAKE THAT POKEMON TOO!" Shade yelled, and I understood.

"JOLT, WE GOTTA HAUL ASS RIGHT NOW!" I cried to him, and picked him up as quickly as I could. I set him down outside, and peeked into the cave to see Shade.

His head had just become visible, and his green rings looked like they were on fire. His eyes were screwed shut, probably from the sheer amount of energy it was taking to hold the boulder. Green flames licked up the sides of his legs and his head, but something had changed about him. He had a different look on his face, and he almost seemed like he was grinning. Just then, the boulder dropped a few inches, and Shade grunted in exasperation. The ground around his paws suddenly exploded in cracks, and I realized that if he didn't get rid of it soon, he was going to be crushed. I stepped forward to do something, anything, but his voice stopped me.

"God...damn...Y-YOU...WON'T...BREAK...ME!" Shade yelled as he got an enormous boost of power, and flung the rock away from him, all the way to the other end of the cave.

"SHADEEEEEEE!" I yipped, running towards him as fast as I could. He turned around and looked absolutely beat. His face had multiple cuts on it, plus his eyes were closed from fatigue, and his legs were all bleeding. The worst part was his chest, which had so many wounds on it, it was hard to tell where one started and where one ended. But as I approached him and he opened his eyes, I stopped dead in my tracks.

"What?" he rasped, then broke into a fit of coughing which ended in him wobbling on his feet. He smiled and then coughed again, this time spitting blood out of his mouth.

"S-Shade...what happened to your eyes? How badly are you hurt?" I asked in awe.

"I'll explain it later, r-right now I need to find a quiet place to lay down. But just out of curiosity, what color are they?" Shade whispered hoarsely with a small grin on his face.

"B-Blue. They're a bright blue..." I replied wondrously.

"That's nice..." Shade said as he collapsed on the ground.

Shade's POV

_Blue. Why blue? Maybe because it's the opposite of red, and it's a good heroic color. Who knew what Mew was thinking? Oh well. Now, where am I?_

I stood up shakily, surrounded by only black. I rubbed my eyes, but I didn't feel tired at all.

_Oh that's right. I get to meet a new spirit each time I fall asleep. _I felt my heart sink. Who would the innocent be now? I soon received my answer.

A female Persian appeared in front of me, and I remembered her clearly.

~_Flashback~_

_I was going to get a drink of water from a stream, but when I bent over, she lunged onto me and latched onto my back with her huge claws. I tried to shake her off, but that just made her claws dig deeper. I used a Confuse Ray on her, making her fall off and walk around stupidly. I had grabbed her maw and commanded to know who sent her to kill me, and she replied nastily warning me that if I killed her, they would ruin my life. I had given her a cold grimace and said "You're a little late to the game, my life is already ruined" She tried to escape, but ran into a tree instead. I stepped on her tail and promptly slashed her throat, waiting until she was gone, then closed her eyelids and walked away._

_~End Flashback~_

"So it really is you, huh?" she said "I wish I wasn't a spirit so I could kill you the same way you killed me."

"I understand, and I know it won't do much good, but I'm sorry. I was a monster back then, and I made too many mistakes to count. One of them was killing you. I should have just let you go and run away, but I was just so tired of Pokemon from your boss hunting me down." I said in a hurt tone.

"Well, looks like ya got something else coming your way, kid, because I'm not forgiving you this easily. You even had the nerve to close my eyes in silence after you had just killed me. What the ACTUAL HELL IS UP WITH THAT?" she said in a hostile tone, pacing around me angrily.

"I wanted to make sure you were peaceful." I said quietly.

"You WHAT!? That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard! Maybe if you, oh I don't know, DIDN"T KILL ME, I WOULD BE PEACEFUL!" she yelled at me, her eyes showing no sign of surrender anytime soon.

"Look lady, you attacked me first. Your boss sent 117 Pokemon to kill me in total, and they've all been killed instead. I didn't want to kill them, but they were going to kill me first if I didn't try to fight back! All this forest has given me is scars and grief, and it's made me a monster. If you don't forgive me, I get it, because even I don't forgive myself for my actions. I will never forgive myself. Just don't think for one second what you were doing was ethical or right, because it wasn't." I said emotionlessly.

I stood up and walked towards her, stopping next to her.

"By the way, your son, Zamu, is safe. After I left you, I tracked your scent back to your cave. I told him you had to go somewhere, and then gave him to your sister, Rashi. She knows the truth and will tell him when the time is right. She tried to kill me after I told her what happened, but they're both safe now." I said softly. Her jaw dropped open and tears fell from her eyes.

"W-why would you help my son? Why would you do this? TELL ME!" she howled, sobs shaking her body.

"Because this is not who I am. I'm not a mass murderer, and I'm tired of people seeing me that way. I never wanted to kill all of those Pokemon, but I had no choice. I have someone I need to protect now, and I will not die unless I know she's safe. Again, I'm so sorry, and I hope you can enter the Spirit World with a clear mind now." I murmured, then padded away into the darkness.

"W-WAIT!" she exclaimed, and I cocked my head at her with a confused look plastered on my face.

"I had no idea. My boss told us that you had killed everyone around you for the sake of bloodlust. That you were a monster that wanted to destroy everything we ever knew. Why would it tell us that if it wasn't true?" she asked as she walked up to me.

"Well, I don't know. I don't even know who it is, so I really don't know if I hurt him in any way." I remarked.

"Hold on. What do you mean? Do you remember every Pokemon you've killed?" she gasped.

"W-well... I told you the truth. It haunts my every waking moment, and I know it'll never leave me. I don't know all of their names, but I know their voice and face. Maybe I hurt someone close to him, or maybe it made him mad that I was so powerful. I'll probably never know." I sighed sadly.

She sucked her breath in quickly, then pursed her lips and started to speak quietly.

"No one knows where it came from. One day it just showed up at the arena and inquired about you and your numerous battles. It was really mysterious, but it looked like a Ghost type, and it was constantly hovering. It was accompanied by a few Mighteyna and Crobat as well. You're pretty much a legend around there, so everyone told it everything about you. Including me."

"After it heard all of this, it told us those things about you, and instructed us to go end your life if we valued our lives. At first we were all too scared to go after you, but it offered us a remarkable deal. If any one of us killed you, we would get a carefree life out of this forest, and we could bring anyone we wanted with us."

"I thought of my family, and almost all of us agreed. I was the 34th to go. Because you could hear large groups coming, we were forced to attack you one at a time." she finished with a painful look on her face.

I nodded, suddenly understanding what happened.

"You keep referring to your boss as 'it'? Why not just say 'he' or 'she'?" I asked, perplexed.

Her eyes narrowed.

"Because we don't know what it is. It's voice is empty and emotionless, and no one could look at it for very long without getting huge amounts of chills. I glanced once, but I can't remember what it looked like. All I can remember is a really blurry brown orb." she whispered.

I straightened, and slowly closed my eyes and thought for a bit.

_Could it be what I think? I think my trainer saw one in a battle once, but I was in my Pokeball and didn't get to see it. Let's just hope I'm wrong._

"Ahem." she coughed, and I snapped back into the present.

"I have a proposal for you. If I join with you and offer you support, someday will you go back to my sister's cave and tell Zamu the truth? If I know my sister, she won't tell him the truth and he'll just be confused and grow up with hatred for you. I thought I wanted him to hate you, but I misjudged you. I deserved what I got, and I would be honored to fight with you in battle." she finished, searching my eyes for an answer.

I felt a lump form in my throat, and no words could come out. Instead, I just nodded and smiled.

Her eyes widened, and she asked one more question.

"Sorry, but I swear your eyes were a dark red when you fought me back in the forest. But now that my head is clear, I'm seeing that they're blue? Did they change?" she asked, puzzled.

"By the way, my name is Shori." she added.

I stared back her and found my voice.

"No. I changed." I said strongly. Shori nodded, seeming to understand, and dematerialized, slipping into my fur. With that, I felt the world turn into a blinding white.

Shade's POV

I opened my eyes again, squinting as I saw the sun seeming to take up the whole sky.

"Shade! You're awake!" A loud voice rung through my ears, and I clamped my paws to my ears, trying to make it stop.

"P-please be quiet..." I groaned, feeling my face twist in pain.

"Shade, you need some rest. Just try to go to sleep." the voice echoed again.

"I'm fine! Just don't yell anymore!" I grunted, lifting my head, which felt like it full of Geodude bouncing around.

I opened my eyes again, and observed the surroundings. I was laying on a patch of soft grass, and next to me was a yellow Pokemon with spikes coming out of his back, snoring loudly.

"Is he ok? I asked.

"Yeah, he's fine. That Shadow Ball saved his life!" This time I heard Shine's voice come across.

"I thought you was finished, Shade! If you don't mind me asking, how did you lift that boulder?" she asked in awe.

"C-can we talk about it later?" I asked painfully. "Right now I need to get away from you two so I can heal really quickly, ok?"

"Ok!" Shine replied sunnily.

I limped off, far away from the two Pokemon, and settled down next to a stream of water trickling into a small pond. I bent down, grunting in pain, and took a drink of water.

As I was drinking, I looked at my reflection, and gasped in shock. My eyes were indeed blue, but they were the same electric blue that my rings possessed before I killed Revi.

I laid back and began to clean my fur. I was a mess, with so many cuts I couldn't see where they started and ended. I felt my ability activate, and watched with a small smile as the cuts that were on my chest and legs slowly close. I felt my chest clench and yelped in pain, realizing that one of my ribs must have been broken as well. I gritted my eyes as I felt the bones begin to knit back together and clawed at the grass, trying to release some of the pain.

As the process finished I flopped down, panting heavily. This heal had been my most painful yet, and I tested all my newly healed appendages to make sure they still worked. They were all torturously sore, but I was able to breathe and walk almost as well as I always could. I stood up and began to walk back towards the Pokemon I had saved and Shine, when I heard him yelp in pain.

_Time to go. _I thought, and started sprinting back.

Shine's POV

_How had Shade done that? I know he's a level 60, but not even he could lift a 4,000 pound boulder! His eyes had changed too, which makes no sense whatsoever... What happened to you, Shade? _I pondered silently. I glanced over to Jolt, and more questions popped into my head.

_How did you escape, Jolt? You were taken by those evil humans, and suddenly you just reappeared! I thought you were the calm and collected Pokemon, but after what you said in the cave, are you the same? You would never have killed a weak Pokemon, but you clearly intended to kill Shade before you knew he was powerful._

"Ughhhhh" Jolt groaned as he woke up. He rolled over to his side and looked at me. He smiled, but I didn't return the gesture. I hardly knew who he was anymore, and it was painful to see him so different.

"Shine...you have no idea how glad I am to find you... We have to go quickly! I bet we can escape from that creep if we start running NOW!" Jolt said stressfully.

"What? I'm not leaving! And that 'creep' just saved your life! He almost died for you, and you're just ready to waltz off without even thanking him? What the hell happened to you, Jolt?!" I growled at him, my heart set ablaze.

"What happened to me? OUR WHOLE LIFE WAS DESTROYED! I was stolen and tortured by humans! I just barely escaped and ran back to our home to find it completely flattened, and you were gone. I thought you might've gone into the forest, so I asked everyone I could and tracked you down to this stupid cave. I nearly died trying to find you, only to find you all close with some total stranger!" Jolt retorted angrily.

"We are getting out of here right NOW Shine! I don't care what you say, I'm not leaving without you! We don't belong here, we need to go try to save our tribe!"

"Jolt." I said, my face softening. "They're gone."

"No, they're not! Those Team Plasma people have thousands of Pokemon locked up in cages, and almost all of the survivors are there, including Flare and our friends!" Jolt insisted.

"Now come on! That freak probably won't be gone for long!" Jolt grunted, and tried to move towards me.

"Get back Jolt. Shade is not a freak, and I won't go with you. I'm sorry." I said painfully.

"Yes, you will, because you're obviously delirious. I don't trust this 'Shade' and I know I didn't come all this way for nothing! I hope you haven't forgotten that I SAVED you from the human back in the field!" Jolt growled.

"Jolt, you can't tell me what to do! If you think you can just show up and take me away, you're sorely mistaken. As for saving me, I'll always be grateful, but I won't go somewhere I don't want to! You need to stop being cruel to Shade, then maybe I'll listen to you." I said, narrowing my eyes.

"Fine, if you're going to be an idiot, I can't stop that. Screw this 'Shade' and screw you too Shine! I thought you were smarter than this!" Jolt finished angrily, and spun away from me, walking away. I sighed and shook my head. Jolt was not the same, and I didn't like how he was acting.

"Hey, get out of my way, you losers!" I heard Jolt yell, then I heard a loud crack.

"OWOWOWOWOW! WHAT THE HELL?!" Jolt screamed, hopping back on three paws.

"What the...JOLT, LOOK OUT!" I yelped, but I was too late.

A huge black and grey Pokemon hopped out of the bushes and head butted Jolt across the clearing, and I heard another sharp crack.

"NOOooo..." I heard Jolt try to say, but he had passed out before he could finish.

"Haha! Yerati! Azar! Look at this pathetic excuse of a Jolteon, his bones snapped like toothpicks!" the Pokemon laughed, and motioned to his companions, two orange-colored Pokemon who were holding what looked like loose skin up.

"Great job Hoita!" the two crooned, shuffling towards him.

"Aw, he isn't dead! Can we finish him off boss? Please!" they asked, seeming like two kits.

"Well I suppose so...but don't get too bloody, we have to look presentable for Master." Hoita chuckled.

_No, not Jolt. They wouldn't! He's changed now, but he's still my friend! I have to do something!" _I thought, quivering in anticipation.

"RAAAAAH!" I roared, jumping in front of Jolt. They stopped in their tracks and smirked.

'Well well well, what do we have here! What a cute little Espeon! Now move." they grunted.

"N-no! He's my friend, and I won't let you kill him!" I yelled, lunging towards the both and smacking them in the face using a Quick Attack. I jumped back in front of Jolt, then sprung right back towards the two. Just as I was about to hit them again, a large paw smashed into my neck, pinning me down on the ground.

_"__Oh no! I forgot about Hoita!" _I thought as I looked into his deep black eyes.

"That wasn't very smart, little lady." he growled as he lifted my chin with his claw.

"Looks like we'll have a prize for Master now! If only we had found that damned Dark type, Master would have been much happier."

_Shade! Why did these thugs want Shade?! Why is all of this happening? _I thought in fear.

"Looks like you've found him." A cold voice said from my left. I peered over and saw a Pokemon with green rings and blazing blue eyes. it took me a few seconds to realize who I was looking at.

It was Shade.


	13. Chapter 13: Changes

**Disclaimer: It's like dat claimer but its dis claimer**

**What's up everybody? Oh it's a new chapter! (Thank you Shade!) Oh stop stop, you're too kind CX**

**1.3k views in 2015 alone? You guys are beasts! What a great way to start the year :3**

**Finals are over now, and I have saved enough money to move off-campus! Ya boy has his own apartment now, hallelujah! That means there won't be any hiatus in new chapters, cause I'm living distraction free now. Now, I got a lot more feedback for a Lion King romance, so that'll be up during the weekend. I ****have 4 chapters down, so only about 6 or 8 to go! I'll post them with a couple days in between so I don't flood you guys ;)**

**This story will still be getting updates every day or every other day for the foreseeable future. Lastly, I'm taking story requests for any genre, as long as I like the idea and it won't take more than a couple weeks to write. (I write a lot, so let's put the cap on 30k words for a requested story) **

**I'm also happy to announce my partnership with 'The Howling Behemoth"! We'll be co-writing a few stories (Pokemon-themed), so be sure to go check those out on his page when we finish em up! A huge shoutout to 'Minicon2199', 'arcanineandlucariofan', and 'SHINY NINETAILS' for keeping me sane throughout the writing process, and making sure I keep writing XD**

**That's all for now! Sink your teeth into this chappy and tell me what ya think ;D (Reviews at bottom)**

**-Shade**

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><p><span>Shade's POV<span>

_I'm gone for less than 10 minutes! How did he start trouble already? He better not have even touched Shine, or I'll personally make sure he never does it again._ I thought as branches whipped against my fur. I decided to activate my ability, the extra speed couldn't hurt. This time, however, when I felt it activate, something new happened. I could see much more that I didn't have access to. I saw small Rattata scampering into the grass, and I saw Caterpie crawling on leaves. I and shook my head, thinking it was an aftereffect of my healing. I was running quite fast now, and felt my heart sink as I heard another howl of pain.

I stopped where I had woken up, and observed the area. As I was doing so, the world went dark and I saw two blue shapes and three red ones illuminated a short distance away. I hesitated for a split second, then ran towards the shapes. Much to my surprise, I heard Shine grunting and a saw a Mighteyna saying ".. If we had only found that damn Dark type, Master would have been much happier." I realized that I was probably the Dark type, and gritted my teeth in anger. Why wouldn't they leave me alone? I jumped into the clearing and faced them.

"Looks like you've found him." I said coldly. Shine's head snapped around and looked at me in confusion, then seemed to realize it was me and sighed.

I looked to my right and saw the Pokemon I had just rescued in a crumpled heap, two of his legs bent at odd angles. I faced the Mightyena and his orange friends, which I recognized as Scrafty, and sighed sadly.

"Looks like you made the wrong move, pal." I said.

"Hey fellas! Look who we found!" the Mightyena yelled behind him. His Scrafty companions turned their heads and grinned.

"Master will be so pleased!" they exclaimed in unison.

"Let her go, and then let's continue our little chat." I sighed, trying to act almost bored.

"Humph. I don't think so. Master will be very pleased we found him a 'companion' to spend the nights with." the Mightyena grinned evilly.

_Calm down Shade. They're trying to get you mad. Keep a clear head. I won't kill any of them if I don't have to. I need to prove that I'm not a killer._ I thought, trying to soothe myself.

"Hmm. Ok." I said, and started to walk away.

"W-what?! SHADE!" I heard Shine yell, and it took all of my willpower not to rush back and kill her captors right then.

I lazily cocked my head and said in a dull tone. "You heard the man, Shine. You're his now. It's too bad, really. I was in the mood for a good battle, and I'm not even sure if I could win against them. Well, now that they have you, I'm sure they're more than content. See ya around." I finished and kept walking.

"Whoa there! H-how about this! What if we battle you, and if you win, we'll leave and let her go. What about that?" he said, trying to act pleasant. I knew what he was doing, though.

"Huh. That sounds pretty good! I think I'll take you up on that." I said with happiness in my voice. In all honesty I was disgusted with them, but I wanted them to remember this forever.

"Good. Good." he said, lifting his paw from Shine's neck, who scampered towards me. I stared at her blankly and made a soft 'tch' sound with my mouth, making her stop and begin to slink away. She looked back once more, and after I had made sure the enemies weren't watching, I shot her a quick wink. She smiled and ran to tend to that yellow Pokemon.

"Alright, how should we do this?" I asked innocently. "Maybe a nice one-on-one?" I asked, knowing the answer before I had finished.

"Mmmmm no. How about three vs one?" he asked, grinning to his two friends.

"Well one of my men is down, and I'm sure you don't want to beat up a woman, so it's really a one vs one." I said, trying to make them mad.

They all snarled at me "Not YOU! We're going against you!" he growled angrily. Plan perfectly executed.

"Well...if you insist, just go easy on me.." I said, trying to hold my laughter in.

"GRAHHHH! YOU LITTLE PUNK!" he yelled as he lunged at me. I stood perfectly still, and let a slow breath out. Then I closed my eyes.

In a second they were about to attack me. My eyes snapped open and I leapt up, pouncing off of the leader's head and slamming into the first Scrafty, making him fly into a nearby tree. I grinned as I saw him fall out and sit there completely winded from my attack.

"W-WHY YOU!" the other Scrafty grunted as he sprung towards me. I let a Dark Pulse loose, but aimed for his feet instead of his body, and laughed as I saw him trip and slam face-first into the ground, rolling into his comrade who had just regained his breath.

The Mightyena looked at me with acid in his eyes. I just shrugged and flashed a stupid grin. He crouched down, eyeing me, and leapt towards...

Shine.

I felt my stomach drop, and quickly sped towards Shine and the yellow Pokemon just as the leader raised his giant paw to strike her. I groaned internally, knowing that this was going to hurt like hell. I jumped in front of her and felt his claws slice through my shoulder muscles, spraying him and her with my blood.

"AAAAAGGGGHHHH!" I roared as I crashed into the ground. I opened my eyes and saw blood forming a huge pool underneath me.

I tried to stand up, but yelped in pain as I applied weight to my shoulder.

"W-what the...? Hah! That's why you never save others! You'll just end up getting hurt!" the Mightyena chuckled.

"No..." I groaned as I watched him approached Shine again. Shine hissed at him, and hit him with a Psychic. He roared in laughter, and stepped towards her with malice in his eyes.

"Foolish girl! Psychic moves don't affect Dark types at all! But that was annoying, so I won't be as kind now." he growled.

_Shori, Revi. Please lend me your strength. _I asked myself silently. With that, I heard a faint '_yes'_ from somewhere in my body.

Shadow-like black smoke began to trickle from my fur, and I saw the blood from my shoulder turn a tar-like color. I grunted in pain, but felt a large amount of much-needed power surge through my body. I got up shakily and stood on my shoulder, wincing in pain. With that, I saw the Mightyena raise his paw again. This time, I stumbled in front of him and stared him down as his paw flung down towards my face.

_'__good...Shade...you...are...ready...' _ the voices echoed again and a new move popped into my head.

**'****_Shadow Claw_**_...it is a Ghost move...but...we...give...it...to...you' _the voices said before they slowly drifted away.

I focused on the move and felt the smoke falling from my fur wrap around my right paw. I reached up and extended my claws, the black smoke materializing into the shape of my paw.

_Right now. I could slice his stomach open and leave him in two pieces. Then the battle would be over. I know I'm fast enough, so do it! _I thought to myself, then flicked my paw upwards instead, colliding with his claws.

_No! I won't kill any more! I need to prove I'm not a monster! _I screamed internally, feeling the ground around me split into hundreds of small cracks from the shockwave.

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!? GET OUT OF HERE, KID! IT'S OVER!" he roared at me and pressed his claws down harder onto me.

"Grr...You...w-won't...break...me!" I snarled back. I kicked backwards, pushing Shine and the injured Pokemon as far away from us as possible. The leader's eyes widened and he pressed down as hard as he could.

"A-AAHHHH!" I groaned. My bones felt like they would snap any second, and my shoulder was on fire from the pain.

_Come on...Shade. _A new voice said. I looked around for it's owner, but there was no one else around.

_I'm you, Shade...I'm your other personality...why don't you let me out?...I'll finish this fool quicker than you can blink._

_N-no! I'm not a killer anymore, and I will never let you take me over! _

_Yes, you are Shade...being kind towards your enemies has made you soft! This enemy wants to kill you now, and you still think you're going to win? Please, he'll take you out if you show any weakness at all._

_S-shut up! Go away!_

_Oh but it's true. After he finishes you, he'll go for Shine, and tear her body to ribbons, leaving you, her, and your new friend to die right here in the clearing. Is that what you want, Shade? All you know in this forest to be gone? It will all be because you were weak and couldn't protect them. Oh well, it seems like the pattern so far, so I suppose it's a good way to end a useless life._

**"****SHUT UP!" **I bellowed in a voice I didn't know I had. I felt a flash of anger and I stared at the Mightyena and flipped him, slamming him back onto the ground.

**"****I'M NOT A KILLER AND I WON'T LET YOU TELL ME ANY DIFFERENTLY!" **I howled, jumping onto his chest and raising my paw, preparing to strike.

**"****I WILL PROTECT THEM ALL UNTIL I DIE, AND YOU CAN'T STOP ME!" **I screeched. His eyes widened in confusion and he tried to speak.

With that I rammed my paw into the base of his neck, and he looked at me in surprise. He gasped for air, then passed out instantly. I turned around to see Shine watching me in horror, and I showed her my paw, completely bloodless, and with claws sheathed.

She looked at me puzzled after that, and I explained quickly.

"Pressure point. I knocked him out by blocking his airways. He'll wake up in a couple hours feeling slightly dizzy, but fine." I explained calmly, shooting her a smile at the end. She smiled right back, but I knew she was appalled that I didn't kill him.

The Scrafty wobbled back to me with their claws bared, and I sighed in exasperation.

"Can we make a deal? I really don't feel like fighting anymore, and you two are in no condition to attack or defend. How about you just take him and leave, then say that you barely escaped alive when he wakes up." I asked pleasantly, padding up to them.

"And in return, I won't flay you alive where you stand right now. But if anyone else finds out about our little agreement, then I can't say I'll keep that promise. Got it?" I whispered in a menacing tone.

The two looked at each other, nodded, then picked up their leader and slunk away.

"Now then, how is our little friend doing?" I asked Shine, whose eyes were as wide as saucers.

"W-well...his right foreleg and left back leg are broken." she said sullenly.

"Hmm. Clean break or shattered?" I asked calmly.

"I can't tell. Why does it matter?" she replied.

"Because if it's not too awful, I can set it properly so it'll heal." I replied, and scooped his foreleg up in my mouth.

"S-shade? What are you...doing?" she asked in horror.

"It's a cwean bweak. I'ww twy to set et." I mumbled, cringing as the metallic taste of his blood coated my tongue. After a few more seconds of shifting the bone around, it slipped into place with a slight _click_. I gently placed it on the ground and spat the blood out of my mouth.

"I need a lot of cobwebs probably eight large ones, and eight sticks slightly thinner than his legs." I evaluated.

"I'll get the sticks and you get the cobwebs?"

"Sure Shade, but how did you learn to do that?" Shine asked me in awe.

I grinned. "That's a story for another day." I hinted, making her groan in discontent.

As Shine walked towards my shattered cave to get more cobwebs, I bent down and whispered in this mystery Pokemon's ear.

"Hang in there. You're going to be fine."

As I turned to walk away, I neglected to see his eyes flash open.

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><p><strong>Reviews! I forgot these for a couple chapters, and I apologize a ton!<strong>

NightSlash54- **Glad you're enjoying it dude! Thanks for the ****support!**

ThePenguin79- **Hehe, you'll have to wait and see... theres a lot more in store for our characters though!**

The Howling Behemoth- **Well if people enjoy the story, I'll update fast, and if not, I'll slow down. They're the ones making this fun to write after all! Thanks for the support!**


	14. Chapter 14: Betrayal

**Disclaimer: Nope don't own Pokemon yet**

**Welcome back Poke-fans! Thanks for all this amazing support, because we've almost hit 2k views! C'mon that's pretty phenomenal, give yourselves a pat on the back ;)**

**I've received some negative criticism from the names of my characters and the layout of my story, which I guess I'll address now.. :(**

**-I get that there are stories like this one, which I am well aware of. This story is what I wanted to see someone else write, but when I found none I decided to write my own version. If you don't like it, or you're just here to hate, then please just leave :) No one needs or wants to hear that.**

**-As for the names, I named the main character after my Umbreon in Pokemon Crystal. I did NOT steal any names from other stories, although 'Shade' seems to be a very common Umbreon name. He's simply a throwback to my childhood and the first Pokemon I got to level 100. If it bothers you...too bad! Shine was my Espeon in HeartGold, so that's that. Most of my names are original, and if I do use a name I would always cite the original creator.**

**Sorry for ranting, but flames like that aren't necessary. I'll also be slowing down with the publishing a bit, because people are saying I'm nuking them with new chapters. I want you guys to read and enjoy a chapter, not just read it to keep up with it :) Reviews are greatly appreciated and help way more than you would think! cx**

**Thanks again, and ****enjoy this new chapter! Love to all *kisses screen***

**-Shade**

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><p>(Approx. 15 min later)<p>

With the eight sticks in my mouth, I walked quickly back to the clearing, to see Shine already there.

"Wow! You work fast!" I exclaimed as I entered the clearing.

"Oh, you're back! Yeah, your cave is really creepy, so it was a cinch to find more!" she replied with a wink.

"Is he up yet?" I asked as I set the sticks down next to him.

"Not yet... and his name is Jolt. He's one of my oldest friends, and I've known him since I hatched! I thought he died when he was taken by the humans, but while you were out, he told me that he had escaped." Shine explained, trying to avoid my eyes.

I cocked an eyebrow. "Shine, are you ok? Normally you look at me when we're talking... is something wrong?" I asked.

"Well...he asked me to run away from you so we could go rescue our tribe from the humans, and when I declined, he called you a freak and went away. A few seconds later, he was thrown back by those thugs with broken legs. It was awful to see." she said, waiting to hear my reply.

"A freak, huh? Seems pretty close to the truth!" I chuckled as I gathered the cobwebs from her. She just stared at me as I laid the sticks across his leg and wrapped them in cobwebs.

"What happened to you?" she whispered. I looked at her and went to ask what she meant, but she went on.

"Seriously! I'm not an idiot! I know something happened when you were underneath that rock, and I want to know the truth. You saved someone that repeatedly made you angry, which I could get. But you basically sacrificed yourself for him! Not even you could hold that boulder up, and then your eye color just changes?" she said angrily, and as I tried to reply, she interrupted and went on again.

"Then you play it completely cool in a battle, subduing all the enemies without killing them, and sacrifice yourself for us. After you should be a goner from that ruthless hit, you start spewing black smoke and magically recover. Then you use a Ghost-Type move which you can't naturally learn! As you're about to be beaten, your eyes flash a bright blue, then you overpower him and start screaming at him about things that he didn't even say! To finish it all, you make him pass out, not killing him, which I was sure that you would do. Why all the changes!? Tell me!" she finished.

"For the love of Arceus, calm down! Your friend here is in pain! Just help me set his back leg and then I'll answer your questions! I said urgently. She glared at me and went on.

"Why do you even care about him so much? He just appeared and started insulting you! What made you change?!" she growled.

"You know what? I'll let you act like a spoiled kit while I fix him up. Honestly, if he's one of your oldest friends, shouldn't you care about him a bit more?" I barked back, leaving her speechless.

I went to his back leg and tried to find the split bone. When I did, I sighed. It was fractured in multiple places, possibly three.

"Shine, I need some help here. His leg is fractured in more than one place, so I need you to hold them in place while I try to set them, then we can wrap them." I said calmly. She walked over and tried to hold his leg in her paws, but couldn't find the means to do it.

"Um... I think you'll have to put in in your mouth Shine, our paws don't work for this kind of work." I said sheepishly. She looked at me and I could see she didn't want to taste the blood.

"Don't worry, it's not as bad as it seems." I said, cringing when I heard how bad that sounded. "I-I didn't mean it like..."

"Don't worry, I know what you meant!" Shine said with a grimace on her face. She gently slipped her friend's leg into her mouth and I saw her eyes water from the awful taste. I bent down next to her and did the same thing. After a bit more struggling, I found the breaks and gently pushed them all together.

As soon as I nodded to Shine, she leapt away and rubbed her tongue, trying to get the taste out of her mouth. I simply spat it out again and started to wrap his leg, being careful not to disturb the tender bones. When I finished the final wrap, I felt a huge shock go through my body and I yelped in pain. I recoiled and slammed into the ground, still twitching from the electricity.

"Jolt! What the hell?" I groaned in pain, rolling onto my side to face him. He was trying to stand, but the makeshift casts made it quite hard for him.

"Ha! I got the freak! Let's get out of here Shine!" Jolt exclaimed proudly, and managed to stand on his feet.

I looked over at Shine and froze. Her face was not showing any sign of happiness. She looked downright furious. And she was staring at Jolt.

Shine's POV

_YUCK! That tasted awful! Who knew blood tasted so disgusting.._ I thought to myself as I tried frantically to get the taste out of my mouth. When I turned back around, I saw Shade wrapping Jolt's leg, making sure not to let the bones slip again.

_I was being an idiot earlier. But why has he changed SO much? It's like he was switched with another Pokemon underneath that rock, but when I look into his eyes, I know he's the same. Maybe... what the...?_ I whipped around as my thoughts were interrupted by Shade crying out in pain.

"Jolt! What the hell!" he said painfully, then he looked at me.

"JOLT! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" I roared. Jolt's eyes went wide and he looked at me, trying to find an answer.

"SHADE SAVES YOUR LIFE TWICE, AND YOU STILL AREN'T THANKFUL?!" I continued, full of rage. Shade was trying to forgive others and be kind, but Jolt was making it really hard for him. Shade stood up painfully, then shuffled over to Jolt and just looked at him. They both stared at each other, until Shade turned away and I saw pure regret in his eyes. He padded back towards his broken cave and walked inside.

I stared at Jolt now. His eyes still had shock in them, and he stammered out a pathetic excuse.

"I-I thought... well he IS a freak!" Jolt insisted feebly. I stepped towards him, fury glinting in my eyes.

"Listen to me. Shade has had a very hard life. I won't tell you all the details, but he has been through hell and back. Every day is torture for him, and he's trying to help others more so he can have a clear conscience. You are the first Pokemon he has ever helped recover, and you just devastated him." I whispered angrily, hoping that Shade couldn't hear me.

"You weren't awake when the thugs attacked all of us, but he jumped in front of the leader, who was going to kill us, to stop him. His whole shoulder was cut open, but just a few seconds later he battled the leader just so we could still be breathing. And he WON. After that, he didn't even pay attention to his shoulder, which is still untreated, and set your broken bones. How would you feel if you risked your life for someone, cared for them, and hoped they would be your friend, then had them turn on you and attack you? That's how Shade feels right now." I finished with pain in my voice.

Jolt had been looking at the ground intently for the whole time I was talking, and he raised his head when I finished.

"Shine...where did I go wrong? This isn't who I am, and I didn't think he actually cared for me. I thought he had kidnapped you and was holding you hostage. The whole forest calls him "The God-Slayer", and they told stories so convincing and horrifying that I just assumed he was awful. Why does the whole forest say these things if they're not true?" Jolt asked anxiously, and I could tell he felt terrible.

"I'll let you ask him that." I said and hoisted him up so he could lean on my back and led him towards the cave.

"And you may be surprised by the truth."

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><p><strong>Reviews! :D<strong>

Pickle the Tree Eater- **My god..your name is even more majestic! XD Yeah I know it's kinda cliche, but hopefully it'll be a good cliche story haha... :s Thanks again for all the support and don't eat too many trees! **

The Howling Behemoth-** Glad we agree! Shoutouts are fun haha! Thanks for reviewing!**


	15. Chapter 15: Redemption

**Disclaimer: You know what it is ._.**

**Hello PokeManiacs! Welcome to another chapter! I hope these upload times will work out, because I don't want anyone to feel swamped with chapters :) I have a few more chapters pre-written, and I think they'll be the best ones yet! :3 The support has been unreal, and we've hit another 400 views and a whopping 22 reviews! Much love to all of you for being awesome!**

**For you romance junkies: Yes, the real romance will start soon! I'm being a huge tease and keeping it low because I'm just cool like that XD For real though, there will be lots more in the next chapters to come.**

***sigh* No, I will not tell you my real name. I don't even get why it's such a big deal, but I'll give you a hint. I'm naming a character after myself in this story at some time. It probably won't be a chapter soon, but I'll slip my name into there. If anyone guesses right, I'll give you a prize! That's all I'll say on the matter... *laughs evilly***

**Aaaaaand that's it! Be sure to drop a review if you want, and I'll be uploading again shortly! Take care 3 (reviews at bottom)**

**-Shade**

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><p><span>Shades POV<span>

_Freak. I should have known it. No matter how much I try, I'll always be a freak to everyone. Maybe helping others isn't my style. I should just stay here and never interact with anyone. That way I can't hurt them and and they can't hurt me. I just thought after he saw all the work we did on him he would appreciate it a tiny bit. _I thought glumly.

I looked at my bloody shoulder and began to heal it quickly. Feeling the tendons reconnect was hardly anything next to the pain I was feeling inside. It was the same feeling when Revi and Devil had attacked me.

_Betrayal._

My ear twitched up as I heard footsteps approaching the entrance to the cave. I saw Shine shuffle in with Jolt leaning on her for support. I looked at her, shook my head slowly, then turned and walked to the back of the cave before collapsing and resting my head on my paws. My ear twitched again as I heard them whispering.

"...go over there!...he doesn't want to talk to me, and I don't want to make him more...just talk to him...Shine, I...GO...ok..." were the pieces I picked up. I silently prayed that they would just leave me alone, but it seemed Arceus wasn't listening this time.

"Erm...Sir?" Jolt asked quietly. I lifted my head up and glared at him, indicating that he would never call me 'sir' again. His ears dropped and he shuffled his feet awkwardly.

"S-Shade." he corrected himself. I turned away and plopped my head onto my paws again, hoping he would get the message. He turned away, then I heard Shine hiss at him to talk to me, and he sat down next to me.

"Look. I'm sorry for being cruel to you, but I only knew what I had heard about you around the forest. Everyone says you're so awful, and I just assumed you were from the start. I didn't even give you a chance, even after you fixed me up. Shine told me how you stood up for for us when the leader was going to kill us, and I owe you my life. Back when you saved me from the rock, I thought you were trying to kill me with a Shadow Ball, and I didn't even think of you saving me until she told me what really happened. You aren't nearly as awful as everyone says, and I shouldn't have done what I did." Jolt said softly. I looked at him and chuckled.

"I'm impressed, I really am. But I am awful. You see, all those rumors about me being a murderer, they're true." I said flatly, glumly setting my head back onto my paws.

Jolt looked over to Shine for help, but she glared at him and he looked at me again.

"So... they're all true?" he asked cautiously.

"Yeah. I killed those Pokemon. Happy now?" I asked, getting tired of answering that question.

"Well, you did what you did for a reason at least. Most killers just kill for fun or bloodlust. You were simply defending yourself. It's what I would have done." he replied unhappily.

"I suppose that's why you have those green rings, huh?" he asked curiously.

_Huh. What do I tell them? That green is power and courage? Or do I let them believe what their tribe said?_ I thought quickly. Everyone was already going to see me as a killer, so did it really matter what two more thought?

_No, they deserve the truth. They both accept me for who I am, and for all I know, they'll be the only two who ever do. _I decided. I just hope the'll believe me.

"Actually, no." I answered, and I saw Shine look very confused.

"Shine, you may want to hear this as well." I offered, and she sat down next to Jolt, who looked equally confused.

"But in our tribe, they told us green rings were the sign of a killer." Shine said. Jolt nodded in agreement.

"Ok, I'm going to tell you the full truth, but it will seem fake. All I'm asking is for you to hear me out." I said slowly. They both nodded in unison, and I began.

(Two hours later)

I stared at them as they looked at me blankly. After telling them about meeting Arceus and Mew, my spirits, why my colors changed, and my split personality, I expected as much. Before I had even gotten to the spirits, their jaws had dropped open in awe. I smiled at them nervously, anxious to know what they thought.

"Wow..." Jolt spoke first in amazement.

"I-I had no idea that...I just had no idea..."

"Yeah...Shade, I know I asked you what changed, but I really didn't expect the answer to be so important! This is huge! You've turned yourself around!" Shine exclaimed happily.

"So what, you have like maybe ten or twenty spirits to talk to before you're done?" she asked.

I winced, and my head dropped. I had only told Arceus the real number, never someone who was sitting right there.

_I said I would give them the truth, so I have to tell them._ I thought, and sighed.

"W-well... thirty-four had nothing to say to me, so...only one hundred and eight." I whispered.

Their eyes widened and they shot each other a quick glance.

"S-so... one hundred and forty eight is the number." Shine asked cautiously.

I simply nodded. I felt a lump form in my throat and turned away. Without missing a beat, Jolt asked a follow up question.

"How many were sent from this 'Master' Pokemon? The one that also sent those thugs to get you recently?"

"One hundred and seventeen." I answered flatly. I looked to them, and I was surprised to see them both smiling.

"Hey, if Arceus forgives you and trusts in the new you, who are we to say anything? You're cool with me, and I'd be grateful to travel with you guys!" Jolt exclaimed, and Shine smiled at me.

"Really? Well sure, we'd love to have you!" I replied, overjoyed to have a new friend.

"Great! So...what do we do now?" Shine asked.

"Huh. For once I have no idea." I said with a touch of confusion.

"To be honest, I really just want to get out of this forest and start a new life somewhere. It's pretty unsettling to stay here, and it isn't safe for you two. From what I've gathered, the leader of operations who wants to kill me isn't going to let up anytime soon. And they might even start targeting you two to get to me, which I won't let happen." I growled softly.

"Hey! What if we go take down Team Plasma! They're the ones who took our tribe!" Jolt exclaimed excitedly.

"Um... I have to be honest. You two may not be a high enough level to attack them. I've passed their HQ in the city, and it's awfully large. Even worse, they have Pokemon and human guards, which will not be easy to take down." I replied slowly, trying not to hurt their feelings.

"What? Saving them now is a better idea! But just so we know, what would the ideal level be? By the way, what level are you?" Jolt asked quickly.

"I'm...how about you go first...What's your current level at?" I replied tentatively. Asking others about their level was usually a disrespectful act, but I wasn't worried about that. The last thing I needed was my only two friends killing themselves foolishly.

"I'm level 36!" Jolt bragged, puffing his chest out in pride.

"Whew. You make me look bad... I'm only a level 32." Shine remarked, seeming slightly tiffed.

"O-ok. You two would probably want to be at least level 45 or 50 to stand a chance against them." I replied quietly. They were way more under-leveled than I had thought! Jolt must have been able to escape from them on sheer willpower alone.

"WHAT?" They both spluttered in shock.

"W-well then what level are you?!" Jolt asked defensively. Shine looked at me as well, and I felt myself groan internally. I had only told her my approximate level, not my exact number.

_Guess I have to tell them._ I thought.

"I'm...I'm level 69..." I said slowly, looking at them to see their reaction. Shine's jaw was dropped completely, but Jolt was looking at me in disbelief.

"C'mon! There's no way in hell you're level 69!" Jolt retorted, sizing me up.

"What? I am, why would I lie to you?" I insisted. Jolt's eyes flashed in excitement, and I knew what he was going to say before he even opened his mouth.

"Prove it." he quipped, a smile wrapping around his face.

"Jolt! Why can't you just trust him?" Shine scolded, but I sensed some disbelief coming from her as well.

"Shine, you don't believe me either, do you?" I asked, feeling a slight chuckle form in my throat.

"Welllll... to be honest... it does sound a bit high, even for you, Shade." she confessed.

"Hmm. So how should I prove it to you?" I replied innocently.

Jolt's eyes glinted again.

"Battle me." he suggested strongly.

"Um...bud. You do know that two of your legs are snapped, right?" I asked suspiciously.

"Oh! That's right." he remarked sadly.

"You did such a good job of setting them, I almost forgot they were hurt in the first place!"

"Fine! Then I'll battle you!" Shine exclaimed as she stood up.

Jolt shot me a concerned look, and I returned the gesture. He sniggered slightly, and I sighed in response.

"Shine? That's an awful idea." I said, instantly regretting my words.

"Oh? Are you afraid you'll lose?" she taunted. I looked to Jolt for help, but he simply shrugged, as if to say 'its all you'

"Shine, Psychic can't even hit Dark types... and I could never lay a paw on you!" I explained.

"Why?" she asked in a dangerously calm voice.

"Because! Why would I battle someone that's done nothing to me?" I replied, looking at her with pleading eyes.

Shine stepped towards me, and I looked at her in confusion. She smiled, then used a quick attack to slap me in the face as hard as she could. Which hurt a lot more than I expected. Still, my defense stat was so outrageously high, my head didn't even budge, and the small sting went away instantly.

"Wh...what the...Shine?" I asked, now completely perplexed.

Jolt hobbled over to me and gave me a quick explanation.

"She's been like this her whole life dude. You made her seem weak, and now she won't give up until you do what she wants. I know she can hardly inflict damage on you, so good luck." he said and shot me a sorry look.

"Shine, I'm not going to fight you. With our type and level difference, it wouldn't even make sense. I don't want to hurt you." I said strongly, and stared her down.

"Fine. Looks like it won't be much of a fight!" she grinned and slapped me again, and I felt my cheek sting weakly from the blow. This time it hurt a bit more, even though she hit me softer.

"Whoa, why are you using claws?! Are you insane?" I asked in horror.

"Hmm. Maybe I am! At this rate, you only seem like a level 20 to me. What do you think, Jolt?" she glared at him, and his eyes widened.

"I-If you say so?" he answered feverishly.

"Fine. I'll battle you. On one condition." I said slowly.

"If I win, we train. I don't care how we train, but we train until we're strong enough to battle Team Plasma. Doing so, we also have to help others along the way, and maybe even get a few more allies along the way."

"And if I win?" Shine asked with a smile on her face.

_She won't stop! _I thought.

"We attack Team Plasma as soon as Jolt recovers, and I'll go all out on them. Without killing them, that is." I replied flatly.

"But you just said it was dangerous!" Jolt exclaimed. Shine looked at me and smiled.

"Deal." she said happily. She walked towards me and licked her paw, then rubbed my cheek.

"For the love of Arceus, Shade! How do you get all these cuts?" she scolded, shot me a flirty look, and walked outside. I looked at Jolt, completely lost, and he looked right back.

"Why does she have to be so crazy?" I gasped in confusion.

"Uh...dude. You may want to get used to it..." he chuckled.

"But how will you fight her? You aren't actually going to hurt her, are you?" he asked, and I heard an edge to his voice. I had almost forgotten that they were really close friends, and he had cared for her his whole life. His eyes widened when he realized how he had said it, and went on.

"Just go easy on her? I know you can win easily, and she knows it as well. She's just stubborn." he finished.

He saw the look on my face and smiled. He moved a bit closer, motioning for me to listen.

"And in case you were wondering, we aren't a couple. I have a mate waiting for me at the HQ, so she's all yours, you sneaky devil. If anything, this should make for an interesting battle." he whispered, and winked at me before he started to hobble towards the entrance of the cave.

_So that's it! That's why he wants to liberate the HQ so badly, his mate is there!_ I realized suddenly, then the rest of what he said processed.

"W-what? Jolt! That's not what it is at all!" I stammered, blushing furiously.

"Oh please. The fact that your face looks as red as a Magmar and your stuttering is more than enough proof for me. Ladies like a confident man, so I'd recommend getting yourself together before your battle!" he chuckled in amusement, then made his way outside.

_W-What? Did I really like Shine? I thought I did before Jolt showed up, but she's so much different! She's even kind of intimidating... _I thought in a full blown panic attack, screwing my eyes shut and breathing heavily.

Then I remembered when we sat in front of the fire and just talked to each other, and I knew, deep down inside of myself, that she was the one for me. She truly cared for me, and saved me from going over the brink. I owe her my life for that, and she needs to know that.

"And now I have to battle her!" I wailed in annoyance, and slowly walked outside.

_Well, I guess I have to show them. Time to win._

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><p><strong>Reviews! :D<strong>

VoreMistress-** The romance will start soon, rest assured ;) I'm a pretty good romance writer as well (not to brag) so I think you'll be in for a treat! Thanks for the support!**

TheHowlingBehemoth-** I'm glad you enjoyed it! I won't be needlessly repeating the scenes in different POVs either, it takes too much time and interrupts the story's flow :( Thanks for reviewing!**

PokeGamma54- **Having supporters is always great! Thanks for sticking with the story, it's been a blast to write! :)**

Dusk5261- **You guys are so nice to me :3 I'm glad everyone feels so strongly about it! I wish there was a real way for me to thank everyone though :/ *hugs monitor***

SunriseSunset4- **OHMYGOSHIKNOW! Haha, I really liked characterizing the legends, it was fun to add my own ideas and personalities into them, especially Arceus! Everyone sees him as a divine being, but having him act totally chill was pretty sweet. Thanks for all the love, and pleas don't explode XD**

Umbreon2098- **Thank you so much for giving me an honest review! I may be a decent writer, but spelling errors kinda hate me XD I suppose it's my own fault though because I turned autocorrect off so the spellcheck wouldn't go crazy and correct my weird names for characters haha! It's been ****addressed, and I think you'll be pleased with the fluidity and grammar in the chapters to come! Thanks for reviewing!**

**And that's it! If you have an idea or want to leave me some feedback, smack that review button with an Iron Tail and let me know! Thanks again!**

**-Shade *virtual hug***


	16. Chapter 16: Prove It

**Disclaimer: Pokemon isn't mine. :,(**

**What's up everyone? New chappy here, so sit back, grab some Rare Candies to munch on, and enjoy!**

***Note* I've been making Shine act like a total b^tch the last few chapters, which is my fault entirely. Bad characterization. So just know that she is still good and all, she just acts awful for a while here *_* Sorry guys, it won't happen again, just some bad planning ;-;**

**Reviews are welcomed with open arms, some hot chocolate, and a cookie, so just know that if you leave a review it will be well loved for it's whole life. *tears up* They're also at the bottom of the story. Check em out ;D Love to all!**

**-Shade**

Shine's POV

_Haha! That look on his face was absolutely priceless! I know I'm being pretty awful right now, but I am kind of curious about how this'll turn out." _I thought as I waited outside. Jolt stepped outside with a smile on his face, but it vanished as he saw me.

"What do you think you're doing, Shine? You know that he won't lift a paw towards you, because it's obvious that he has a huge crush on you! You're practically torturing the poor guy!" Jolt hissed angrily, but I could see he was interested as well.

"Well you're interested in how he's going to win as well, aren't you Jolt?" I asked as I gave him a smug grin.

"Arceus' sake. You never change, do you Shine?" Jolt sighed and smiled.

"What can I say? Old habits die hard." I finished with a wink.

I turned my head and saw Shade walk out of the den with an emotionless expression on his face. I smirked at him in triumph, but he grinned back evilly. What was he doing?

"Ready to begin?" I asked, and he nodded curtly.

"By the way, I've decided not to go easy on you. You wanted to see what a level 69 could do, so I'm going to show you." he said dryly. I glanced at Jolt, who looked dumfounded.

"O-Ok. Le's go then!" I roared, and leapt towards Shade as fast as I could. I hit him with a Quick Attack, then a Psywave, then leapt in to finish him with an Iron Tail. I was wrong.

Throughout the repeated attacks, he hadn't moved an inch, and I had landed all of my blows perfectly. He watched me and chuckled.

"Huh. So 96 is the total HP damage you can inflict on me. Then with my Special Defense and Defense buffs, I'll say I took a comfortable 14 HP points. Too bad they already healed." he said with a small grin on his face. My jaw dropped as I realized that he looked less injured before I had started to attack.

"Now. Speed. Speed **(****IS KEY! I'm sorry guys I couldn't resist! Jacksepticeye rules!)** is the key to attacking in any battle, because if you're as slow as a Snolax, then you can't take advantage of your Attack stat. Allow me to demonstrate." he stated emotionlessly.

He started to walk towards me, and I hopped back uncertainly. He smirked, then flashed forward and appeared right in front of my nose.

"W-WHA?" I yelped, and tripped backwards. I felt his paws brace me from behind him, and I didn't feel myself hitting the ground.

"Now, when you tripped backwards, I moved behind you in a couple milliseconds. That was only twenty percent of my max speed. Do you want me to go higher?" he asked stolidly, and I could just stare at him. Jolt's expression was equally shocked as he watched from a short distance away.

"I'll take that as a yes." he said and tossed me in the air like I was a stick. I screamed in horror as I saw the ground come closer to my face, but then I was whisked away in a flash.

"Huh. That was only forty percent. How much faster can I possibly go?" Shade asked in mock surprise. "Maybe this can prove it."

With that, he laid me down gently, and began to walk away slowly. When he had reached the end of the clearing, he turned and looked at me, then crouched down.

"Time me." he said simply. Then, he disappeared completely. I couldn't even see him with my Psychic abilities. After about twenty seconds, he rematerialized in front of my face, holding a small bundle of flowers. I looked at him oddly, and he rolled his eyes in exasperation.

"Come on, you Slowpoke! These are for you!" he explained, then sat them in my paws tenderly.

"Where did they come from? I didn't see any flowers at all on my way here." I asked. I studied them again, then smelled their scent and gasped.

"T-These smell just like the flowers that grew in the field my tribe owns! But... how did they grow in the forest?" my voice trembled.

"They didn't." Shade said simply, smiling happily.

"What do you mean they didn- wait. DID YOU GET THESE FROM THE FIELD?!" I yelped.

"Yep! Impressed now?" he asked hopefully.

"B-But that's easily 4 miles away! You were only gone for twenty seconds! That's not possible! I wailed.

"And yet I just did it. Huh. Next up is Attack. You two have seen me attack, so I guess that speaks for itself, and I can't show off my HP unless I nearly kill myself, which I've done too many times lately." he sighed. "So do you believe me now?"

"Yes! But how-" I tried to say before he stopped me.

"Shh. Enough talking. Just enjoy it, alright?" he said warmly, and gave me his trademark wink.

"So we have to train now?" Jolt asked sadly.

"We-elll no. I actually want to get a good look at their HQ, so we'll make a journey there first." he replied.

"I also have another idea. I was listening to some other Pokemon recently, and they were talking about this thing called an 'Exploration Team.' Have you two heard of those?" he asked.

Jolt and I nodded. "They're made up of a team of Pokemon that do jobs for Poke **(AN: The currency system for Pokemon)** and for rewards. There's tons of mission types, like treasure hunting, rescue missions, fighting, and even odd jobs." I stated, and I saw Shade's eyes light up. Not with a blue light, but strangely, with excitement.

"Wow! So they really do all that!? That sounds awesome!" he exclaimed, moving around quickly.

"Ok, sorry for being so giddy. I just think it would be a lot of fun if I- _we _did that! We could train, get Poke to set up a new home for your tribe, and then have a community there!" he blurted, then looked down quickly.

"If you two want to, that is." Shade finally finished in a muffled tone.

I glanced at Jolt, who motioned for me to walk over. I complied, giving Shade a smile.

"So what should we do?" I asked quietly.

"Well...you know...I'm not sure anymore..." Jolt replied feebly.

"Those humans aren't going to hurt or sell our friends, since they're rare Eeveelutions, but I really want to get them back, especially Snow.." he finished abruptly, and I saw color beginning to rise to his cheeks.

"Whoa. What's going on here? Are you two..? I asked hesitantly.

"I didn't want to say anything to you, y'know cause we've all been friends for life... but we're engaged." he replied happily.

"Awwww! You two are so perfect for each other! When did it happen?" I squealed.

"When we were thrown into the cages in their trucks, Snow and I were in the same one. She-er- was upset...so I..*ahem* comforted her. Then we realized that we had feelings for each other for a long time. So, we tied the knot." he stammered. I smiled; I was happy to see the Jolt I knew was still alive.

"Well, what do we do? We can't save them now at our levels, and they're safe for the time being, so should we go with Shade?" Jolt asked.

"Jolt, after all he's done for me, I don't know if it's even possible for me to leave him." I sighed.

"So what's going on between you two?" Jolt asked sneakily. I blushed profusely, and gave him a little smile.

"Well, I've been dropping little tiny hints that I would stay with him forever, and he meant a lot to me, but he's had tough times. I really hate to say it, but I'm not sure if he'll ever get over what he did. I don't even know if he wants a relationship." I replied wistfully, glancing at Shade. He was watching a Butterfree float above him, and I felt my cheeks grow warm.

"Well, that's not what he acted like when I asked him before your 'battle'. He got super nervous, blushed a ton, and couldn't even speak properly. It was quite a riot!" Jolt sniggered, and my eyes went wide.

"Whoa whoa whoa. Back up. You talked to him about this? B-But you two had just forgiven each other!" I exclaimed.

"Oh thats right. Guys get over stuff wayyyy faster than women. We're practically best friends now." Jolt replied.

"So did he say anything about me-" I pushed, but Shade interrupted me.

"You guys finding a cure to Pokerus or something over there? For Arceus sake, hurry it up!" he whined impatiently.

"Simmer down! We've decided. We're going with you." Jolt said, and Shade's eyes sparkled. "Oh one condition. As soon as we're strong enough, we go back and save them." he finished with a slight tremor in his voice.

Shade walked over and smiled at Jolt. "Don't worry man, she'll be fine. I give my word that I will fight as hard as I possibly can when the time comes, and we will save them all."

I felt tears come to my eyes at his words for Jolt, and quickly blinked them away. Jolt's lip was quivering, and Shade bumped heads with him, and gave him a knowing look.

"Ok. I have to run a quick-uh-errand...so I'll be back soon! Don't wait up!" Shade said quickly. "I'll be gone for an hour, tops...and I want to go alone. Clear?"

"Where are you going?" I asked suspiciously.

"I-It's a secret! But I have to do it before I leave the forest." he stammered, then took off towards the arena.

"Jolt, I know you can't run right now, so just stay hidden. I'm following Shade." I whispered.

"C'mon Shine, give the guy a break! He's probably just getting something to eat." Jolt replied. "Guys don't like a clingy girlfriends, and he did specifically tell you not to follow him."

"I'm going." I said stoically.

"Fine, fine." Jolt grunted. "Just don't come crying to me if it blows up in your face!"

With that, I was off.

Shade's POV

_So this is it!_ I thought. _I'll be able to help them train, get land ready for their tribe, and I'll be saving Pokemon all at the same time! Arceus, thank you! I've never felt this happy before in my entire life. Now I have to go take care of some unfinished business, and then we can be on our way..."_

As I sped through the forest, my mind drifted back to Shine. I had sworn they were talking about me earlier, but I couldn't tell. Then she had started sneaking glances at me ever so often. _It's quite peculiar. I'll ask her when I get back._

I kept sprinting towards the arena, but took a sharp right turn and slowed down. I calmed my breathing, then crept up towards a cave. It had some type of light shining from inside, and I could hear the muffled sounds of voices.

_Ok Shade, this is it. Shori, I swear I will tell Zamu the truth, no matter what happens. Rashi will be furious, and I may not walk out as intact as I am now, but I will tell him._

I walked into the threshold of the cave and cleared my throat awkwardly. Rashi turned around, and her eyes turned into ice.

"What are YOU doing HERE!?" she spat, and I looked down.

"I-Well- Can I come in?" I asked. "It'll be easier to explain if we sit down."

"HA! Nice try, freak! I'm not letting you kill any more of my family!" she cried, and lunged towards me with her claws outstretched. I quickly bowed down and stayed there, waiting for the blow. But it never came.

"W-What are you doing, freak? Why are you bowing?" she asked.

I clenched my jaw and tried not to break down. "Listen. Please, just listen to me. I'm tormented by the spirits of the one's I've killed. Recently, I've learned I can talk to them in my dreams. I met Shori, and she felt the same way you did, ready to rip my body to shreds. But then I told her about Zamu, and she requested something of me. She wants Zamu to know the truth now, so he doesn't grow up confused." I said shakily, not daring to look up.

"Yeah right kid. I wasn't born yesterday. I'll make it quick." she said softly, and raised her paw again.

"Fine. Just let me talk to Zamu. Then you can kill me. Please, just let me grant her one wish..." I said as my voice trailed off.

"Who wants to talk to me Auntie?" a small Zorua asked from somewhere behind her.

"N-No one! Go back to sleep Zamu!" she scolded, but the Zorua held his ground.

"Hmph. I don't think so! If he wants to talk to me, then we can talk!" he yipped excitedly.

"Fine." she growled, then stared me in the eyes. "Tell him whatever you want, but don't be surprised if he wants you dead as well. I'll give you thirty minutes. Then you die."

"If I convince him that what I did wasn't wrong, then may I please live?" I asked quietly. She sniggered, then glared at me with disgust.

"Sure kid. Why not? But he'll always hate you."

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><p><strong>R-R-R-R-Review Time!<strong>

Pickle- **Pickle! You must be a tree eater as well! I messed with you guys pretty hard, because Shine isn't some insane killer death fighter, she's just an ambitious, overconfident Espeon that likes to f^ck with Shade XD Thanks for reviewing for multiple chapters and sticking with the story! :D**

dusk5261- **Welcome back man! I'm glad you enjoyed it, and my autocorrect finally likes me again, so it doesn't destroy Pokémon names lol. I love writing Shade when he's so confused with the opposite gender as well, because he just seems so helpless and Kawaii haha! I'm definitely going to be adding more romance in the chapters to come! Thanks for reviewing! :)**

**Thanks for all the support, and a new chappy will be out soon! Much love to all x3**

**-Shade**


	17. Chapter 17: Shori's Love

**Disclaimer: ._. **

**Greetings. Today we delve into an exhilarating story full of love, ****tragedy, and unparalleled plot (-now read that in Morgan Freeman's voice)**

**On a more positive note, we hit 3k views, 31 reviews, 19 favorites and 29 followers! :D Thank you all SO much, and I'm glad people are actually returning to read more! I have a ton of new chapters already pre-written, and they're gonna be awesome! :3**

**I've decided to do something new. I'll take any story request, make a one-shot out of it, and post it here. If you guys like it, I'll continue it! I think it would be fun to do, so give me any, ANY story request (about anime or manga) and I'll get started! **

**I'm working on another Pokémon story as well, but it'll be a bit different. It'll most likely be a short story, so I'll be uploading chapters in pretty rapid succession. It should be out before the end of next month :)**

**Ok enough smalltalk! Thanks a ton and enjoy the chappy! :3 Reviews help a ton, and I love to read em, so don't be shy! :D Take care.**

**-Shade**

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><p>"So, whatcha want, mister?" Zamu asked excitedly.<p>

"Well...damn. This is going to be hard." I sighed sadly. "Kid, I've done something awful to you, and I want you to know that I absolutely hate myself for it. It's detrimental, and I don't expect any forgiveness from you."

The Zorua's brow furrowed, and I could tell he was confused, so I quickly went on.

"Recently, I've been a monster. I was picked on by scary Pokemon and had murderers hunting me for a wanted me dead, and they were ruthless. The only way I survived was...k-killing the murderers. I went mental and changed, I started killing with no remorse whatsoever. And now..." I struggled. Zamu's eyes went wide.

"S-So, y-you've killed other Pokemon?" he asked. I nodded shakily.

"Yes. Your mother was one of the Pokemon sent to kill me. She leapt onto me while I was drinking from a stream, then used her claws to dig into my back. I got her off, then I-I-I..." I stopped, tears falling down my face.

"You...?" he asked, still not picking up on it.

"I...killed her." I said softly, and he stiffened. The small, confused Zorua was wiped away in an instant.

"You WHAT?" he demanded, and I saw him clench his paws roughly.

"I killed Shori. I can't say how sorry I-" I stopped in shock as Zamu raked his small claws across my right eye. Luckily, I was much faster than he was so I was able to close my eyes before he did so, saving my vision. His tiny blow did hurt though, and I felt blood trickle down my face.

"Y-YOU...I...I HATE YOU!" he cried, batting me with his sharp claws. I felt the tiny blows landing, but none of them caused me even the slightest bit of pain. When he was tuckered out, I opened my eyes again.

"W...Why!?" he wailed, then curled up into a small ball and began to sob.

_Oh Arceus, what do I do? I have no experience with kids! Maybe I should...?_

I gently put my paw onto his head, and petted him softly.

"Shhh, it's okay. I promise it's ok..." I said softly, and he wailed louder. Rashi looked over and glared at me, but left us alone. Zamu started to cry even louder, so I quickly picked him up and hugged him. The poor thing was shivering like crazy, and wrapped his arms around my arm. I looked down at him and pet his head again. "

May I finish my story?" I asked quietly, and he nodded.

"Your mother, Shori, came to me in a dream. She hated me for what I had done, and wanted me dead because I had ruined her life, which I assume you do as well. Let me ask you a question. About a week and a half ago, do you remember being taken from your cave to here?" I asked softly, and he nodded in reply. He shuddered again, so I pulled him in even closer towards me.

"That was me. I took you here after I tracked her scent back to your cave and I found you asleep. You looked so peaceful, and I just couldn't bear to see you left alone in the wild, in harms way. When I got here and told your Auntie what happened, she tried to kill me as well, but I ran away like a coward. I should have stayed and explained it to you then, but I was weak. I couldn't bear to see the look on your face, because I was too ashamed. I'm sorry." I said shakily.

"When we talked, she was still furious at me, and rightfully so. But when I explained why I had no choice, and how I really do regret it, she understood. Then I told her about you, and she was genuinely grateful. I promised her I would tell you the truth personally, so she could make sure you understood as well."

"Y'see, your mom tried to kill me because she was offered a safe life in the city for her and all the family she wanted to bring. She wanted you safe more than _anything_ else, so she took the job. If I had known she was a mother, I-I... I would have acted differently. But I didn't, and I can only offer my utmost apology and regrets for what I've done. I'm truly, _truly, _sorry. Thanks for hearing me out, kid." I finished and stood up. I went to go put Zamu back down, butI was in for a surprise.

"N-No! Wait!" he yelped, and stayed latched onto my leg.

"What is it?" I asked calmly.

"Thank you...my mom, she made some bad choices, but I know she loved me...and you did what you had to do. I-I just wish I could talk to her again!" he wailed, sobbing into my fur.

_I don't normally do this, and I don't even know if it's possible. Shori, I'll lend you my power if you want to talk to him. It'll drain me completely, but I want you to have this with him. _I asked her spirit, and felt a warm feeling spread throughout my body. Smoke dripped off of my fur again, and a large Persian appeared in front of me.

**_"_****_Zamu...you're even more handsome than I remember..." _**Shori breathed, and Zamu looked at her in awe.

"M-M-MOMMY!" he cried, and tried to hug her, but only grasped air.

**_"_****_Honey, I'm not really here. Shade is lending me incredible amounts of power for this quick visit. Listen to me. I love you more than anything else in the world, so be safe..." _**Shori explained, smiling.

"But Mom, I want you with me now!" he whined, and I felt my power drop drastically again.

**_"_****_I will always be with you, right...here." _**she said warmly, putting a paw on his chest, right onto his heart. In an instant, she was sucked into his chest, and I felt her spirit detach from my soul.

"W-Where did she go!?" Zamu yelped, looking around feverishly. I felt my own chest constrict and something crack deep inside of me.

_And that was probably a rib. Fuck._

"Z-Zamu, you're a Dark type, correct?" I panted, blood trickling from my jaw onto the stone floor.

"Y-Yes...why do you have blood.." he started in horror, but I interrupted him.

"I used all my strength to give her spirit to you. You two will always be together from now on. Shori, thank you for your forgiveness." I coughed, hacking blood out of my maw and collapsed onto the ground.

"OH MY ARCEUS! THANK YOU! Wait..Shade, will you be o-ok?" he asked quickly, and I shook my head 'no' I stood up with wobbly legs and stared at him.

"Listen kid. I'll never be ok for the rest of my life. But you just eased my suffering by a ton, so thank you. Don't listen to the Dark type discriminations or the teasing that'll come, ok? It's all a huge load of bullshit. You're gonna go far, kid. Good luck!" I smiled, and limped towards Rashi, who had watched the whole event unfold in shock.

"Well, you win. I don't understand what happened just now, but I trust Shori, so I'm sorry as well. I shouldn't have tried to kill you." she said shamefully.

"No harm done. Good luck with your nephew and sister!" I replied, and limped outside into the bitter cold.

_Good. I did the right thing by giving Shori away, and Zamu can be happy again. Thank Arceus that's over, now I just have to get home without..._

Something was wrong. I stood upright and sniffed the air, then slowly walked towards my ruined cave again. After a few minutes, I felt my eyes flicker,, like they had done when I was sneaking up on the thugs earlier today, and I could somehow see see a fuzzy shape outlined behind me in red. I turned and pounced on my stalker, who was quite awful at sneaking.

"Ooh. You shouldn't have followed me. I don't take kindly to assassins. But I suppose you would have known that by taking this job!" I growled, pinning the killer down. I dragged my claw across their neck, and smiled evilly.

"So, who did your 'Master' send to kill me now?" I hissed, slowly making my rings glow brighter.

"S-Shade! It's me!" a familiar voice gurgled.

"What the-?" I said angrily, and let my rings glow to illuminate the area.

It was Shine.

Shine's POV

"Shade, before you say anything, I-" I stopped and watched in horror as Shade smashed his paw into a huge oak tree, shattering the wood into a million pieces.

"DAMN IT SHINE! I specifically told you not to come! You blatantly disobeyed me, AND betrayed my trust, which is just plain wrong! When I say something like that, I mean it! Do you understand?" he roared angrily. I nodded, feeling very embarrassed and a bit scared. He was very clear in his requests, and I messed up big time. I had never had him this furious at me, and it was terrifying.

_Jolt was right... I should have left him alone...It wasn't my place._

"What were you even following me for? That was a personal matter that didn't concern you whatsoever! I just gave you and Jolt my trust, since we're going to be on a team together, and you just stab me behind my back. I thought I knew you better than this Shine, I guess I was wrong." he said, then started limping off again.

"Shade, I'm sorry! I just want you to open up to me more! I feel like I don't know anything about you, and it's scary." I whimpered. He whipped around and stalked towards me.

"Oh really? You know nothing about me? I've told you everything there is to know about me! What more can you possibly what?" he snapped. I hung my head in embarrassment.

"I want to know how you feel. Not just upset and in pain, I want to know what makes you happy, excited, just stuff about you that's good... I've told you everything about me, and I only know really depressing things about you!" I replied feebly. Shade walked over to me and stared at me with fire in his eyes.

"My life is dark, Shine. I'm a depressing Pokémon, that's all there is to it. But if you wanted to know more about me, you should have just said that. Following me was wrong, and I don't know if I can forgive you yet, but I'm glad you told me the truth." he murmured warmly. I smiled and licked his cheek, which gave me quite a shock.

"Shade, why is there blood flowing out of your cheek? And your mouth?" I asked uneasily. He looked at me curiously.

"Don't you know? You heard the conversation in the cave, didn't you?" he asked.

"No, I waited in a tree a little ways away. I just wanted to see what you were doing, and I honestly didn't want to intrude." I replied.

"Huh. Well then I'm sorry, I thought you were spying on me." he apologized.

"I was explaining something to a young one, and he didn't take it very well. He raked his claws along the right side of my face, and and I haven't had much time to heal them." he explained simply.

"The weirdest thing was when I comforted him later on. I petted his head and hugged him, and he calmed down instantly. It was one of the best feelings I've ever had. Isn't that strange?" he asked uneasily.

"Aww! You like kids! That's awesome, Shade, because most fathers don't like kids until they have their own." I said, trying to hint to Shade I was interested in him.

"Haha, I don't think I'll ever have kids. I would have to find a mate, which would be really difficult to start. I bet they wouldn't even like me, y'know?" he said longingly.

"Shade, stop whining! First off, you're absolutely stunning, so anyone would be lucky to have you, and your kids would adore you! You're funny, tell great stories, and would love them unconditionally. That's all kids really want from a dad." I interjected, then blushed profusely.

"Well...um... thanks Shine! That was super...nice of you! Now, we should probably head back, huh?" he asked, and I nodded dumbly.

"I hate to ask for this, but can you please help me walk? I used almost all my energy back there, so I'm spent." he asked, drifting off into sleep.

For the next hour, I dragged him back to camp, being sure not to wake him. It was hard work, because he fell asleep about halfway there, so I had to fully carry him back. Strangely enough, he never seemed to grow cold, even though the air was freezing me down to my bones.

We finally reached the cave, and I found a soft patch of grass that looked suitable for sleep. I gently laid him down, making sure not to wake him up. After that, I searched around for Jolt, but he seemed to be hiding quite well.

_Brr..It's so cold! There's no way I'll be able to sleep in this weather if I'm freezing! Maybe I'll lay down with Shade, just for a second, so I can warm up a bit._ I decided, then nuzzled up to his underbelly.

He mumbled slightly in his sleep, then draped a paw around me and pulled me closer.

_I know he's not doing this consciously, but it's amazing...is this what being loved really feels like? _I thought, tears welling up in my eyes.

_Why won't he just pick up on my hints? Jolt said he liked me, but I don't know anymore...he hardly even notices my flirting. Oh well...maybe I'll figure it out...tomorrow.._

I laid my head on his chest, drinking in his intoxicating scent, and fell asleep in pure bliss.

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><p><strong>Reviews! :D<strong>

Umbreon2098- **Thanks so much! I'm really happy that people like it, and it's so humbling to know that you're gonna be loyal :) Thanks a ton man!**

ThePenguin79- **Yeah dude, Shade's prettyyyyyy cool, and I hoped you liked the interaction with Zamu, I think I pulled it off ;)**

**Umbreon Shade- Psh. I'm the real Shade, you're just some loser who writes about me.**

**Writer- Hey! I created you, so watch your damn mouth son!**

**Umbreon Shade- Whatever, the fans like me more ;D**

**Writer- *hides in corner***

dusk5621- **Glad you like it, and I'll try to add more on Jolt! What do you want to see exactly? Send me a PM and we'll talk :)**

VoreMistress- **I was going to add some violence towards Shine, but alas, Shade decided to be 'good' so he wouldn't kill an assassin anymore :/ Still, Shade need to watch her step with him ;)**

TheHowlingBehemoth- **I finally fixed Shine, thank Arceus. She's now back to her old self :) Thanks for reviewing!**

**That's it everyone! I hoped you liked the new chapter (especially these romance teasers hehe) and a new chapter will be out on Saturday! Take care.**

**-Shade**


	18. Chapter 18: New Alliances

**Disclaimer: Do I really have to say it?**

**Hello friends! First off I need to apologize for this awful hiatus in posting ;-; Ive had so much schoolwork it's kinda freaky 0_o I'll be uploading every 5 days from now on, and that's a promise! :-)**

**Ive been telling you all I'll be making a new series soon, and I've had the ideas for a while. I finally sat down last week and wrote it! I'll upload it tomorrow so be sure to check for it! It'll be another Umbreon x Espeon, but it has ****wayyyyy more romance in it (You're welcome VoleMistress) ;)**

**The support has been completely asinine, and I literally couldn't ask for more :*) I've met some amazing people and gotten great feedback from all of you and I really can't express how grateful I am. I'm a certified Beta Reader now, so if any of you want some help I would be honored :3 Thanks for sticking with me and ****making 2015 especially great so far! *digital hug***

**Remember to review if ya feel up to it (reviews are at the bottom), and I hope you enjoy the new chappy! Take care!**

**-Shade**

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><p>Shine's POV<p>

"Stupid birds..." I groaned as I opened my eyes. Strangely, I had woken up much earlier than I normally would have, mostly because the sun was really harsh out in the open light.

"I hope he slept okay despite the sun..." I mumbled. I twisted around and looked at my amazing crush. Shade's eyes were still closed and the cut along his eye had surprisingly scarred . The scar was long and pink, starting just above his eyebrow, going over his eye and down in a straight line, ending right around middle of his cheek.

_It actually doesn't look too bad, it makes him look kinda rugged. _I thought. _Then again, he has so many other scars so this one shouldn't make him seem any different to me..._

I bent over Shade, watching him sleep peacefully. His chest moved up and down in a steady motion and his ears twitched occasionally.

_He is such a stud! Why won't he pick up on my hints and make a move already?! _I whined silently.

I watched him for a little bit longer then realized that he probably had something planned for today. I gently poked his side with my paw, again surprised by the warmth of his body. He mumbled softly in his dreams and lazily rolled over onto his other side. I poked him again and this time he woke up, but kept his eyes closed. I stared at him curiously, and then he rose up quite quickly. As he sat up I realized my face was only about a foot away from his, but before I could pull away our maws collided in an instant. I gasped and felt my heart begin to beat at a phenomenal rate. His face contorted in confusion, then he opened his eyes groggily and looked at me. He stared for a couple of seconds but then what was happening seemed to click in his mind. He pulled away in horror and began a long line of apologies, leaving me completely dumbfounded.

"O-Oh um... jeez, I'm so sorry S-Shine! I-I didn't see you there! I wo-uld never-um I-ah- Shine?" he stammered, blushing brightly and fidgeting with his paws.

_Damn, that was amazing! I can't tell him that though, the poor guy is a nervous wreck! I wonder if he'll pick up that I liked it..._

"Don't worry about it! It wasn't bad at all." I replied, giving Shade a subtle wink. He didn't even notice and had his face covered with his paws.

With that, Jolt waltzed up jauntily, and his legs seemed to be almost completely healed. He came to a screeching halt when he saw us laying under the tree. Then a smile stretched across his face as he saw me standing over Shade's body and the blush that we both had.

"For the love of Arceus, get a room you two! I don't show up for one night and you two already hooked up?" he teased with a chuckle, then walked away, leaving us to blush even brighter.

"S-So, what are we doing today?" I asked quickly, and realized I was still on top of Shade. I rolled off reluctantly, and he shook his head quickly.

"W-Well Jolt's legs should feel a bit better, and if they healed properly the bones should've fused together. I was thinking you two could get supplies around here while I head into the human city to take a look at the Team Plasma HQ." he said. I couldn't help but notice the nervousness flash through his eyes when I made eye contact with him.

_This guy won't give it a rest! Can he really not tell that I liked it?!_

"I also need to pick up a few essential items there, and get transportation. The region where Exploration Teams exist is really far away, so I'll have to find a way to pay a Flying type Pokemon to take us there. Sound good?"

"Yeah! Sounds great! What do we need for the trip?" I asked, subtly brushing my tail along his side.

His eyes narrowed and he seemed to be thinking pretty hard. He also completely ignored my attempt at flirting.

"Hmm, we can buy most supplies there, so just some food probably. Pick all the berries you can so we won't have to buy overpriced medicine there. " he replied.

"I know I can find Oran and Persim berries, and I'll look for others as well, maybe some Cheri and Rawst as well?" I asked.

"Sure! Those all seem great, just listen to me. Do NOT go near the arena whatsoever. Everyone knows I have companions now,and they might kidnap or kill you to get to me. I will NOT let that happen to you two. Stay within shouting distance of the cave and stick together at all times. Do you understand?" he commanded tersely.

"Yes. I promise I'll listen this time." I groaned, and he smiled happily.

"Good, I'll be back before nightfall, be safe!" he said. He turned to walk away, then stopped and walked back. He moved close to me and bumped his head against my neck, then disappeared into the underbrush.

_You better be safe as well... because I'm not about to give up on you __after that..._ I thought as I chewed on my lip absentmindedly. The feeling of his fur against mine lingered in my mind and on my coat.

My daydreams were interrupted as Jolt walked over so I quickly explained our tasks for the day.

"Cool, let's get to it! My legs feel much better, and I wanna get 'em working again." he replied then tore the splints off, sighing in relief.

"Let's go then!" I exclaimed, and we dashed off into the undergrowth. Making sure to stay AWAY from the arena at all times.

Shade's POV

_Well nice going Shade. Now Shine probably thinks you're a creep! Why was she standing so close over me though? Whatever, I need to focus!_ I thought as I approached the entrance to the city. Before walking into the city, I glanced at my rings in disgust.

_Even though they're a mark of bravery and courage, they're going to attract a hell of a lot of attention!_ I groaned. Being a god-blessed Umbreon was sure neat at times, but the cons seemed to heavily outweigh the pros right now.

"Hey, I'll just roll around in some dark mud to blend in! That'll be easy enough for my quick little trip." I thought aloud. I jumped into a nearby puddle and smeared a ton of the mud into my fur.. When I jumped back out, my fur color was that of a messed up Bidoof's and it smelled quite nasty as well.

"Oi! Get off of me house, mate! I'll wreck ya!" a voice bubbled from underneath the mud, making me jump. A second later I was greeted by a Wooper's head.

"You heard me! You wanna go mate? I'll 1v1 ya!" he continued. I rolled my eyes and stepped out of the disgusting pond. He slid back underneath the water without a sound.

"Kids nowadays are messed the fuck up." I grumbled.

I walked quickly and kept my head down as I entered the city. Most of the humans looked at me sadly and threw me some scraps of food, assuming I was abandoned by my trainer. I smirked, knowing that it was the exact opposite.

I finally reached a huge glass building with the name "Team Plasma HQ" and I was shocked. It was larger than I had remembered, and totally surrounded by human and Pokemon guards. Strangely, most of them were Mightyena, Crobat, and Scrafty.

_Like the ones in the forest. I wonder..._

I did a quick observation, and realized that there was no weak spot in the whole base. Every few feet there was a guard, and they all looked really aggressive.

"Damn. This won't be easy. I need to get Shine and Jolt to the Exploration Area as soon as possible, they'll need the training..." I muttered under my breath.

As I started to head towards the wild again in hopes of finding a Pelipper or some other Pokemon to fly us, I was slammed into by a small blue Pokemon. I was far stronger than he was, however so he just bounced off.

"YO! GET OUTTA MY WAY YOU LOSER!" he roared at me, and I stepped aside. He scoffed then turned to sprint away.

"Whoa whoa whoa. Where do you think you're going, Arc? A deep voice growled from behind him. I looked at him and recognized him to be a Houndour.

"Fuck off Kal! I'm getting out of this dump, so you and your group of idiots can go find someone else to control." the Pokemon who I assumed was named 'Arc' yelled.

"Oh really? We think you should stay." 'Kal' growled acidly. At those words, four other Pokemon, which were a Dustox, Gastly, Pidgeot, and Tyrogue, all emerged from behind Kal and blocked the exits.

"Hmm. No. I'm going, and your goons can't stop me!" Arc growled back and turned to walk away. The Dustox promptly flew in front of him and corralled him back to the center of the mob before he could begin to run.

"Hey. Just let go of him, man. Bullying isn't cool." I said. Arc glared at me, but I ignored him, waiting for Kal's reply.

"HA! Why would we listen to some scum off of the streets? We're taking Arc with us, and now we're going to beat you up as well, you wimp!" he snarled.

I snorted in laugher. After being so over-leveled, being called a 'wimp' is a horrific understatement.

"Ah..actually, you guys may not want to do that. It'll end badly." I said calmly. Arc grabbed my ear and yanked me down to his height.

"What are you doing?! Kal is a level 39! He's the strongest kid in the city!" he whispered.

"You and your scrawny ass body won't stand a chance! Plus, I don't want some lowlife like you protecting me." he hissed.

"Look you punk, I'm helping you. Suck it up and watch me. Maybe you'll learn something!" I retorted angrily. Arc scoffed and rolled his eyes again.

"Ok, looks like you guys got me! I'm pretty much done, so just beat me up and get it over with." I sighed.

"Heh. Ok, GET HIM!" Kal roared, and his friends rushed towards me. I looked at Arc and winked, wiping the disgusted look off of his face. I felt the blows landing on me but felt no pain, jut as I had expected. The Tyrogue's attacks I could barely feel, since they were super-effective and all, but the rest felt like a Caterpie was walking on my fur. All of my attackers petered out after a few minutes, and I grinned smugly. The Dustox grew angry and shot a Stun Spore at me, which paralyzed me instantly.

"Hah! You're done now. Grab Arc and let's go!" Kal grunted, and his orders were followed promptly. Arc looked at me angrily and I winked again, making his expression change to confusion now.

"Oh, Kal?" I called. He spun around and stared at me.

"What?" he stated coldly.

I smirked, then started walking with ease. Everyone's jaws hit the floor as I waltzed up to Kal and stared him down.

"How did you break the paralysis?!" he asked angrily. He backed up slightly and I knew he was scared.

"Oh I didn't. I'm a little bit of a higher level than you idiots are, so status effects don't slow me down as much as you would think. Now! Let Arc go." I commanded, and he was released instantly.

"Arc? I think your friends need to learn about bullying. Would you to teach them?" I asked politely, and an evil grin spread across Arc's face.

"I think I do..." he said coldly, letting a Force Palm charge in his hands. He stepped towards Kal slowly.

"A-Arc? You can stay here and we won't bug you anymore! Is that cool?" he asked nervously. Arc got nose to nose with him then sighed.

"Mmmmm...nope!" He slammed his paw into Kal's chest, making him fly backwards and slam onto the ground.

"Now, who's next?" Arc asked.

"No one's next. The fight was over once you took down the leader. Congrats." I concluded while glaring at Kal's comrades, who got the message and dragged Kal off.

"The hell? I wanted to beat those idiots up!" Arc growled angrily. I shrugged.

"Too bad. I didn't save you from bullies just so you could bully them. That's not how it works. You need to control your rage more, because it'll make you an awful fighter if you can't. You're welcome, and stay out of trouble." I said.

"Hey, get back here you inbred!" he growled, speeding towards me with a Force Palm ready to slap me. I whipped around and flicked my paw at him, making him careen back and collide with a wall.

"H-How, w-what?" he stuttered, and I started to walk away again.

_These kids are really getting on my nerves today!_

"I'm gonna kill you!" he screeched, running towards me again. I stopped suddenly and felt my blood turn to ice.

_That word...kill...does he even know what he's saying? Maybe it's because I've experienced what that word can do that rubs me the wrong way. Time for him to find out the hard way that he needs to hold his fucking tongue._

"Oh really? Kill _me_? I would _love_ to see you try." I replied, my voice dripping with sarcasm. He lunged forward menacingly and I took a battle stance. As he was about to hit me, I whipped forward and hit him with my tail, sending him flying back again. This time, however, he went clean through the wall.

"GRAH!" he roared in pain. I stopped and cocked my head curiously.

"Wait hold up. Forgive me if I'm mistaken, but are you a Riolu?" I queried. He glared at me, but nodded sharply.

"Yeah? What's it to you?!" he hissed.

"Aren't Riolu supposed to be the Aura Pokémon? Being able to sense your aura requires complete calmness, so why are you so hyped up?" I continued, and he turned away

"I don't wanna talk about it." he mumbled.

"I can single you out as well you dick! Aren't Umbreon supposed to have yellow rings? Why are yours that disgusting green?" Arc retorted. I looked down and saw that the mud had all fallen away during my escapades.

"Touché. Well, I think I'll be off beause I have some things to do. After today I won't be here to protect you so be careful kid." I advised.

"I don't need some freak protecting me. Where are _you_ headed?" he scoffed.

"Away from here. I'm leaving to go start an Exploration Team." I replied.

"HAH! You? On an Exploration Team? I just hope you don't plan on being their leader!" Arc snorted in disgust.

"Mhm. Bye." I said.

"Grr. WAIT UP!" he yelled, running after me.

"You're a freak and I don't want you helping me, but I kind of want to see the world as well. Plus you seem somewhat strong, and I'll do anything to get out of this human dump. I'm coming with you." he stated.

"Um, no. First off, you're a kid, so I'm sure your parents wouldn't be pleased. Second, I'm going with my friends. You are not exactly a friend." I replied hotly.

"My parents have been dead for 8 years. I'm 9." he retorted.

"So you live...?" I asked.

"Nowhere. I'm homeless. That's why those jerks pick on me. Since I'm homeless they can abuse me and no one cares." he snorted.

"Y'know what? Why not. You seem like a good kid and the more the merrier I suppose." I said cheerily.

"Please. We're not friends, and we never will be. Just stay out of my way freak." he scoffed, walking ahead of me.

_Oh Arceus, I want to teach this punk a lesson! Give me the strength to put up with this bullshit!_ I pleaded, biting my tongue so I wouldn't lash out on him.

"Fine, fine. I need to get a ride, so let's go find one." I said.

He chuckled. "No need. I know an Altaria that'll take us for free."

I cocked an eyebrow. "Really? Can they be trusted?"

"I trust him." was all he said before walking in the direction of a large oak tree outside of the city. I sighed and followed.

"So when do we leave?" he asked.

"Now. As soon as we pick them up, we're going." I quipped.

"Huh. At least you move fast. That doesn't make you a total loser I guess." he said emotionlessly.

_Um..was that a compliment?_ I thought silently, then pushed the notion away. As we approached the tree, I was thrown back by how tall it was. It was easily taller than Groudon, but had a nice canopy that made it seem homey.

"YO! AXEL! YOU HERE?" Arc howled.

"Arc? What's up man?!" an Altaria I assumed who was named Axel yelled back.

"Sup dude, how's stuff been going? Arc answered.

"Y'know...it's been hard but what are ya gonna do right? How's stuff been with you?" Axel replied sadly.

"It's all pretty much gone to shit dude. No one gives anything in the city anymore, and all the young kids toss Pokeballs trying to catch us. It's made life a living hell." Arc answered.

"Damn dude." Axel sighed, then turned his attention to me. "Who's the Umbreon?"

"He assisted me in kicking Kal's ass, and his name is...wait...what's your name?" Arc asked me.

"My name's Shade, and I didn't assist you, I believe I did all of the work. You just got to whack him." I chuckled.

Axel's eyes widened in amazement. "NO WAY! Arc, you actually sucker punched Kal?"

"You bet I did!" Arc boasted.

"I suppose you want to know why I'm here." I said impatiently. The Altaria looked at me again dimly, making me question his intelligence in silence.

"Sure, sure. What can I do for ya?" he asked lazily.

"We need you to fly us to the Exploration Area." Arc interjected before I could speak.

"Whoa, why over there?" Axel queried. Now it was my turn to butt in.

"I don't want to seem disrespectful, but will you give us a ride? We're running out of time, and we need to get there before tomorrow morning." I blurted. He looked at me curiously, then at Arc, who just rolled his eyes.

"Well sure! I'll fly you over there lickety split, but where should I pick you up?" Axel asked happily.

"Shadow Forest. The 'Dragon Slayers' Den." I said, biting my tongue. I despised that god-awful nickname, but everyone seemed to know it. Axel certainly did.

"WHOA! NO CAN DO! ANYWHERE BUT THERE!" Axel roared, flapping his wings excitedly.

"Dude, chill. He's not there anymore and my friend broke his leg, so that's as far as we can come. Please?" I insisted, and Axel calmed down a bit.

"Ok man, I'll do this flight on the house since you're Arc's friend, but be careful, got it?" he said, and I nodded in response.

"Great. We'll be there at sunset." I finished, then walked away with Arc at my heels.

"Who's this 'Dragon Slayer'?" Arc asked. I bit my tongue and shrugged, hoping that we would get to the forest soon.

(An hour later)

_Arceus, finally. This kid is driving me insane! I wish I could run my full speed, but I'm not about to do that with him around..._

"Arc. Listen to me." I said quietly as my den came into sight making him roll his eyes again. I ignored him and went on.

"I have two friends with me. One is a stubborn Jolteon named Jolt. He's a bit hard to get used too, but he means well and he's loyal. The other is an Espeon named Shine. She's good natured and sweet, but...she...is a handful at times. Do not, and I repeat, DO NOT annoy her in any way. I'm going to have to charm my way into letting us take you, so don't fuck this up." I hissed. His eyes widened and a smile spread across his face.

"So, she's your mate?" he asked innocently.

"W-What? NO! Why does everyone say that?" I groaned, and Arc simply shrugged.

"Because I can tell by your aura that you want her. Why not just ask?" he suggested.

"NO! You don't know how that works! Oh you can now _suddenly _sense aura?" I growled, trying to change the conversation. No such luck.

"Ah so you're scared of rejection. Or is it you're scared for her? Will her being with you cause something to happen to her...?" he asked quietly. "And your aura is surprisingly dark, dude. That's really weird, because I can hardly even see into you..."

"NO! I'm perfectly safe, got it?! And whatever dude. Don't say anything without being asked, and let me do the talking." I muttered.

"I'm back!" I yelled, and the two came out of the cave with large packages in their mouths.

"Shade! Look what we found!" Shine called happily, and gave me the huge bundle. I peered inside to see it full of Oran berries.

"Wow! This'll do great! We'll save a ton on medicine!" I exclaimed, then looked in Jolt's bag, which held a ton of different berries, some of which I didn't recognize.

"These are all status berries, so we can stay healthy as well as healed while traveling!" he said proudly, and I congratulated him.

"I also have some news. The HQ is more heavily guarded that I had originally thought, so we'll have to train as quickly as possible. I've gotten us a ride on an Altaria who agreed to fly us for free as well." I said and they smiled happily.

"I also have a new member to our team." I said quietly, and the smiles were wiped off of their faces.

"What?" Shine asked in a deadly tone.

"He was being bullied so I helped him stop them. He's a good fighter and very strong willed so he won't crumble." I added.

"We are going there to _train_, Shade. Not make friends. Train!" she growled, and I sighed.

"Shine, with more team members we'll be able to take higher paying jobs and fight higher level enemies. He won't be a burden, I promise. Please, it'll mean a lot to me." I insisted, and she grew red at the last statement.

"W-Well, I-I mean if it means that much to you, I guess it's not a problem..." she stammered, blushing furiously. Jolt looked at me and winked, then nodded towards her. I walked up to her nervously and licked her cheek, making her gasp quietly.

"Thanks, it means the world to me." I said with a smile, and she blushed an even deeper red.

"Hey Arc! Come on out!" I yelled, and he hopped out of a tree, tackling me in the process.

"Damn, kid! Why didn't you do this to Kal!?" I chuckled, making Arc smile proudly. Realizing what he was doing, he went back into his typical 'cool' phase and scoffed in response.

"Psh. You're an easier opponent than Kal." he stated, and I lightly slapped him which landed me a death stare from the small Riolu.

"Right! Shine, Jolt, this is Arc! He's a Riolu, and that's all I know about you." I remarked.

"Not much else to me, Shade." he sighed, then looked up at Jolt and Shine.

"Hi. Thanks for letting me on." was all he said.

"Sure." Jolt said. "So when do we leave?"

"I believe right about now!" I said as an Altaria landed gracefully next to us.

"Whoo! The Dragon Slayer's den! Never thought I would be here in my life. I wonder what he looks like..." Axel said curiously.

"Who, Sha-" Shine started, but I glared at her, making her stop talking.

"Alright Axel, lets go!" Arc yipped, jumping onto his back.

"C'mon dudes! Don't wanna be late!" Axel said, and we jumped onto his back as well. He flapped his wings powerfully which in turn launched us into the air. Within a few seconds we were hovering above the cave.

_Finally. We're leaving this hellhole. I have my friends, a solid team, and all the time in the world to fix what I've done. _I thought happily. I glanced down one last time at the dark cave thoughtfully, remembering all of the laughs, tears, and new friends I had made within the stones. I took a sharp breath, then decided what I was going to do.

I walked towards the back of Axel's back and charged a small Shadow Ball in my maw, letting it grow larger and larger. By the time I was finished, it was almost as big as a Pichu, and I had poured over half my energy into it.

"Shade? What are you doing?" Arc asked, making Shine and Jolt glance towards me as well.

"Getting rid of some old memories." I stated, then let the Shadow Ball loose and watched it explode onto the cave. I didn't need the structure anymore, because I had a new life waiting for me.

"SHADE?! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU THINKING?! YOu..." was all I heard before I blocked their voices out and admired the obliterated cave. Feeling the wind flowing through my fur and seeing the orange sun dip below the horizon was the perfect end to a day.

_A new time is born. I'm no longer the monster I was just recently. I will protect my friends and save their tribe. I'll redeem myself to the one's I've caused harm, and I'll prove to the world I've changed. Because..._

"I'm not giving up. Never again. And I _won't _be broken."

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><p><strong>Review time! You guys gave me a hella lot of reviews recently which is totally rad. *high five*<strong>

VoreMistress-** Well you got your kiss! But it wasn't in the way you thought cx I'm being such a romance tease aren't I? I'll have to fix that in later chapters...**

Guest- **GG on the first review, sorry I didn't moderate it in time for it to be first on the list xP Shine crying wasn't too much was it? I thought it was really sweet :***

**Writer- The transfer of Shori was really fun and pretty unique, no?**

**Shade****- It was cool but it hurt like hell man. Try not to kill me with all these acts of kindness!**

**Writer- Lol get rekt**

**Shade- Humans...**

dusk5261- **Um...I don't understand what you want :? And just make an account if you really wanna PM, it isn't hard at all :) Thanks for ****reviewing, and pls let me know what you meant so I can answer you! (it looks like you mistyped)**

Pickle- **Pickle! Log into your real account lol! And thanks for enjoying it! :3**

Orenji Splash- **Yeah, it kinda sucks the idea isn't original but I think I'm adding a nice twist to it! :D Shade and Shine are common, but I didn't even know about that lol. They're what I named my Umbreon and Espeon when I played through Crystal so it's funny that they're popular now XD. I'm glad you like character development, because I add a LOT of it haha, backstories and buildups are my thing c: Jolt was going to be competition for Shade, but I needed a drive to get them training faster and a need to go back to the forest after they're in the Exploration Area (i.e. Jolt's spouse)**

**Shade- HAH! Competition against me? He wouldn't have stood a chance!**

**Writer- But you still can't talk to Shine without turning into a nervous wreck! *burn***

**Shade- Bitch I'll Shadow Claw the fuck outta your face!**

**Writer- U mad bro?**

**Shade- Can I write my own story? This 'ShadesEdge' dude is getting on my nerves...**

**Thanks for the awesome feedback and there'll be more out soon! :D**

SunriseSunset4- **I have a ton more written I've just been too busy to upload...sorry :P More will be on the way! Thanks for all the awesome support, and ****knowing people really want to read it is a great motivator! :D**

Guest- **Thanks! You guys are too kind to me :')**

**That's it! Thanks for reading and I'll be uploading the premier chapter of my new story tomorrow morning, so be sure to check it out! Thanks all! ;)**

**-Shade**


	19. Chapter 19: A Fresh Start

**Disclaimer: No. Just no.**

**Welcome back everyone! I'm sorry about this late upload but I deleted all of my notes and review replys I did this morning because of misclicks, then class started so I couldn't re-do them until now :/ It's all cool now though!**

**We have a great new chappy here! I loved to write this one, mostly because of the way Shine's gonna act XD These chaptes are getting long though...you all better love me x_x**

**I have two stories currently in the works, one is a Pokémon thriller and the other is a Lion King romance story :D I've also accepted a story request from VoreMistress for a Legend of Zelda themed fic! They should all be out before the end of the month, but I'll give exact dates and when I'll be updating them when the time comes closer! One or two may spill over into March though :P**

**Everyone wish Orenji Splash a happy birthday! He's a great friend and amazingly supportive! Give him some love so his birthday wishes come true!**

**And that's it! Review if ya feel like it and have a great day! Take care (^_^)/**

**-Shade**

***EDIT* Ok well another screwup :P Looks like I called Shade 'Xen' now, which is from my other story. *sigh* I need more coffee and to write one story at a time...I keep switching windows all the time between stories and that's really messing me up. Thanks for catching it everyone! I won't fuck up any more after this! (Hopefully) x/**

* * *

><p>Shine's POV<p>

"SHADE? Helloooo? Shade..?" I asked frantically. What in the world is he thinking? He just destroyed his home!

"Shade, why did you destroy your home?"

"It. Is. NOT. A. HOME." he snarled, and I shrunk away. Jolt's eyes were equally shocked and Arc just grinned, and seemed to whisper something like 'badass!'

"I-I'm sorry Shine. I hated that cave, and it was symbolic of the old me. I don't want anything to do with my past besides what's right here." he apologized, and poked his paw onto his chest.

I felt tears tickle my throat and blinked them away, giving him a small smile.

"I understand. Just give us a warning next time, ok?" I said shyly.

"Yeah dude! You scared the shit outta me! I thought you had lost it or something..." Jolt said in wonder. Arc scoffed and looked at Shade.

"What do you mean the 'old you'? Is there something I don't know?" he asked suspiciously. My eyes darted to Shade, who looked surprisingly calm.

"There's nothing I've kept from you that you need to know." he said emotionlessly, and I saw what he was trying to do.

"Ah, ah. What don't I need to know?" Arc asked.

"Well if I told you that defeats the purpose, does it not?" Shade retorted.

"If you're loyal to us, then I'll tell you sometime. Now is neither the time not place. I think we all need to get some sleep." he sighed, and walked towards me.

_Wait, WAIT, WAIT WHAT? IS HE COMING TO SLEEP WITH ME? ON HIS OWN INTENTIONS? _I thought as I felt my body stiffen. He sat down a few feet in front of me and smiled.

"You ok Shine? You look like you just saw a Gastly." he said in a worried tone. I smiled feverishly and smiled right back.

"N-No, I'm fine!" I blurted, and he shrugged.

"Ok. Good night everyone! Thanks again for the ride, Axel!" he shouted, and the Altaria nodded in response.

"Arc, you coming over?" Jolt asked. We had all amassed into a rough circle, but Arc was still on the other side of the large bird.

"Hell no! I'm not sleeping with someone I just met! You guys are weird..." he mumbled, and turned away from us.

I looked back at Jolt, who had already dozed off, and then at Shade, who had as well. But something was happening to Shade. He was twitching a lot, and clenching his paws frequently. His tail was swishing back and forth, and his legs were pawing at the cool air.

_Oh. He's probably meeting with his spirits again. I wonder what they're like, or if they hurt him in these weird dreams. Part of me still sees him as a killer, but whenever he talks to me it just fades away...and the way he acts with kids! He comforted Zamu amazingly, and this Arc guy even likes him! He would make such a great father...if only he had some more confidence, I'm sure he would make a move. _I thought peacefully.

_Wait...is that blood?_

Shade's POV

_Damn. I forgot that I have to meet with a new spirit every time I fall asleep. I wonder who it'll be now..._

As I was thinking, the darkness parted and a male Scizor stepped forward. I growled angrily and unsheathed my claws.

"Why do YOU want to talk to me?!" I demanded, and he chuckled, admiring his long pincers.

"My my, you don't even remember my name, do you, 'God-Slayer'?" he spat.

"Of course I do Tarak. How could I forget that hideous excuse of a face?" I retorted. Tarak smiled and licked his lips slowly.

"Oh, so you remember? You remember how I was the only one to nearly kill you?"

"The key word in that sentence is 'nearly' you worm. I was the victor, if you haven't figured out by now." I growled.

He smiled and began to slowly circle me. "You didn't want to listen, did you? You would have made such a good assassin, just like me..." he said wistfully.

"I tried to tell you, I would never join your half-assed hit crew! I'm not a murderer!" I said shakily, and he saw my weakness.

"Seriously? I could've sworn killing over a hundred fellow Pokemon makes you a murderer. Then again, I wouldn't know." he hissed. "Only YOU have done that."

I collapsed on the ground and stared blankly ahead of me. He was right. I knew he was right.

"Since I'm a mere spirit now, I've gained the odd ability to explore your memories. As have all the rest of the others." he said, emphasizing how many had yet to come.

"You are truly a new breed. The ability to fully access all of your power is remarkable. So I have decided to battle you once more. If I win, I take over your body and become the most deadly assassin ever. If you win, I'll surrender and give you my soul. Sound fair?" he taunted.

"Why would I do that? I can't even hit you for starters, and I don't exactly want to auction my body off either." I said slowly.

He walked up to me and smiled evilly. "I'll turn HP on so you can inflict damage. Also, if you do, I'll tell you who 'Master' is. I was the only real assassin he ever hired, and because of my commitment to the job, he wasn't blurred for me." he said in a whisper.

"Deal." I said instantly. Nothing would stop me now.

"Fantastic!" he grinned, and shimmered in a golden light, then reappeared with a small green bar over his head. "Now you can hit me, but I won't faint if my HP reaches 0. Let's do this." he said eagerly.

"Fine." I said, and crouched down. My rings glowed brightly again, and a feeling of adrenaline rushed through my veins. My vision flickered again, bathing the world in a bright blue, but clicked off shortly after.

_What the hell is going on with my eyes? I need to figure out what that blue ability does..._

He grinned one last time, then completely disappeared.

"What the- AGH!" I roared as he slammed into my side, flinging me across the endless black ground.

"Heh. I've had a bit of training time too kid. I'm playing for keeps." he snarled, then flew towards me again. I shot a quick Dark Pulse his way, but he smashed through it and rammed his claw into my side.

"Ugh..." I groaned. I stood up again, this time a bit slower, only to find a large pool of blood flowing out of my side. I tried to heal the cut, but I couldn't feel it closing. I looked down and gasped.

It wasn't healing.

"Huh. I guess in the Spirit Plane you can't heal. This should be a piece of cake!" Tarak laughed and slowly walked towards me.

_No, no no! I can't even stand up like this! Think Shade, think! _I got an idea and charged a small Shadow ball up in my mouth, then pointed it towards the ground and was launched up.

"AHHH!" I roared in pain. Even though the attack wasn't that bad, the projectile still hurt like hell. I felt my body start to fall again and quickly surrounded my body in a Dark Pulse. I smashed into the ground but hardly felt any pain.

"You're a wild card, you _freak._ Every time I have you figured out, you go and get all crazy." Tarak grunted. "After I kick your ass, I'm going to slit that stupid Jolteon's throat, then the weird Riolu, right in front of that pretty little Espeon. To finally show you've I've won, I think I'll press a claw, _your claw, _right against her face, and push in, just so you can watch her die the most painful death ever. It's over." he said acidly, and stepped over my body.

"NO!" I yelled, and slammed my claws against his leg. He roared in laughter, and smashed down on my paw, and I felt the bones shatter. I couldn't even yell. I was beaten.

_I can't do it. I just can't win. I've finally met my match. I was greedy and stupid, and now all my friends are going to die because of that. _I cried softly, and looked away from Tarak.

"Just fucking kill me already. I can't beat you!" I sobbed, my body shaking furiously.

"Nah, this is too much fun to watch! I'm going to wait until you're totally broken, then take the life from you." he grinned evilly.

_Revi. I'm sorry for not saving more Pokemon. Looks like our journey ends here._

**_Shade...do..not..give..up..._** Revi whispered, and smoke poured from my fur again.

"REVI, I CAN'T! HE'S WON!" I screamed aloud, making Tarak jump back.

"What the..?" he asked.

**_Shade...you must fight...for your new family...they...love you... _**Revi finished, and I stood up shakily, wincing in pain from my ripped up side and my shattered paw.

"How the FUCK are you standing up!?" Tarak growled, and I could only grin.

"Listen Tarak. I can't win this. I don't have some magical power that allows me to become the best fighter in the world. I have a lot of abilities, but not that one. You beat me fair and square. Just let me surrender with some dignity." I stated, and his eyes widened.

"You're willing to give up? After I just said I was going to kill your friends in cold blood? You're pathetic. Its a wonder I ever lost to some_thing_ as pitiful as you." he scoffed, and I shrugged.

"What can I say? Just let me die on a clear conscience. Who is this 'Master'? Please, I'm begging you!" I whined, dropping down onto my knees.

"Well the begging has sealed it for me. I'll tell you, but you're dying right after. Got it?" he asked smugly.

"Of course." I said. He laughed loudly, then looked at me again.

He bent down towards my ear and softly said, "Well, the leader of Team Plasma has a whole slew of high level Pokemon, many of them rare. The 'Master' is the leader of them all, and he's the evolution of a Ni-" he stopped as I chuckled.

"What's so funny? Spit it out!" he demanded.

"Nothing, you're just completely clueless!" I said happily. "I didn't know Pokemon still hatched this dumb!"

"Ok, YOU'RE DEAD!" he roared, and plunged his claws into my neck, and I felt the light drain out of my eyes for good...

...Until I opened them again from behind him and howled in laughter.

"You fucking dumbass. Haven't you ever heard of a move called 'Double Team'? If you think that I would die that easily, you deserve to be dead!" I spat, and pinned him down with my claws spread across his throat.

"When...How..What?" he asked in awe.

"Never look away from an enemy. Laughing was a great way for you to divert attention away from me." I growled.

"Ha! Go ahead and kill me! At least then I'm free to haunt your body for all eternity!" he snarled triumphantly.

"About that. I have a quick call to make, so don't move!" I said and kept him pinned down with a large Shadow Claw.

"Hey, Arceus? If you can hear me, it would be great if you could come here for a second!" I yelled into the empty space. A few seconds later, Arceus appeared in front of me with a look of admiration stretching across his face.

**_"Shade, you never fail to impress. Amazing battle, and I actually believed you were going to give up. You are very skillful. Now tell me, why did you call me?" _**the God Pokémon asked.

"Well, I don't want this piece of trash lending me his power. I don't ever want to see him again. I was going to ask, do you have the ability to make contact with Darkrai?" I asked slowly, and Arceus looked shocked.

**_"Well yes and no. I am ruler of all Pokémon, but Darkrai is not under my realm. Just as Giratina controls the Reverse World, I can only watch over other legendaries. The Lunar Duo, or Cressalia and Darkrai, control the dreams and nightmares. I suppose in theory I could contact him, but I highly doubt he will heed my call." _**Arceus answered nervously.

**_"But why must you contact Darkrai?"_**

"Please try. I have a proposition to make to him." I pleaded, and Arceus sighed.

**_"I suppose I have to. There better be a good reason for this..."_**

Arceus closed his eyes and then opened them a second later.

**_"It is done. But I hardly doubt that he will even receive-"_** Arceus started before a dimensional rift opened and a tall black Pokémon hopped out.

**_"_****Yo! What's up Arceussss! No one's called me in like what, a few millennia? That's some bull shit! We need to hang sometime! I know this place.." **Darkrai yammered as Arceus sighed.

**_"Well Shade, this is why I didn't want to call him..." _**Arceus groaned.

"Um...Mr. Dark Lord?" I asked and Darkrai spun around to look at me.

**"Whoa! That's some sick coloration you got there bud! Dark types for the win! And just call me something chill dude! All this Dark Lord shit makes me sick!" he laughed.**

"O-Ok. I have a proposition for you! I want you to take this Pokémon right here..." I said, pointing towards Tarak. "...with you back to your realm! That way you can both go do all sorts of fun stuff!"

**"Aw sweet! I got me a new friend?! We're gonna have a ton of fun dude! Let's go! I want to show you all the nightmares I've collected!"** Darkrai exclaimed, and dragged the dumbfounded Tarak back to the rift.

"W-Wait! Shade, help me out here!" Tarak cried, and I smiled.

"Hmm. Y'know what? I think I'll take a page out of your book and wait until you're totally broken. Call me in a few millennia when your fun ends!" I smirked, and gave him a wink.

"No, NO!" Tarak cried, and the two Pokémon were sucked into the vortex.

**_"Well played. Now he'll be out of our lives for another few thousand years." _**Arceus sighed happily.

"I thought that Darkrai was naturally shy?" I queried.

**_"Oh gods no. All the other legends made that up so it would seem natural for him to stay alone. He's a social Butterfree in real life, which is why we need to keep him secluded. Cressalia is actually the antisocial one, so the two's personalities are almost entirely switched!" _**Arceus explained, then started to float away.

**_"The injuries you sustained in the battle transfer over to your real body, so don't be surprised to wake up in horrible pain. You'll survive, but it may sting a bit." _**he added, then disappeared.

"Thank you Arceus!" I called, and closed my eyes one last time.

_Ow._

Shine's POV

"SHADE!"

"Shine? What's the matter?!" Jolt asked, waking up instantly.

"I-I don't know! Theres a huge gash on his side!" I cried.

Shade was twitching more furiously now, and I heard a sharp crack ring through the air.

"What the fu-?!" Jolt roared as he saw Shade's paw snap and crumble.

"Shade! NO!" I howled, which woke Arc up.

"Jeez, keep it down you guys..." he mumbled sleepily.

"Arc! Do you know what's happening to him?!" Jolt and I yelled, making Arc snap out of his sleepy trance.

"What do you mean? Is something wrong?" he asked sleepily.

"His side just got a cut on it for no reason! Then his paw just shattered!" I wailed, sobbing into Shade's fur.

"Hold on. If this is what I think it is..." he muttered, then placed his paws on top of Shade's head. He seemed to be concentrating very hard, and beads of sweat popped onto his forehead. After a few more seconds, he jumped away and started shaking furiously.

"What! The! Hell!" he gasped in horror. "What is this guy going through?! He's having some type of internal dispute, but his aura is so dark I can't even see what's happening!"

"But why is he getting hurt?!" Jolt demanded.

"I have no idea! This is just weird! Who is this freak!?" Arc asked.

"Ow." a soft voice said, and I whipped around to look at Shade. His eyes were slowly opening, and he looked to be in deep pain.

"SHADE!" I cried and wrapped my paws around his neck.

"Shine..Shine...SHINE!" he croaked, pushing me away. I looked at him, hurt, and he explained why.

"I have to heal really quick. The poison isn't good for you, even if you are immune!"

"Wait, what does he mean, heal?" Jolt and Arc asked in unison.

"Do you want some berries?" Jolt continued.

"Oh damn. You two don't know yet. Well, this may be a surprise then!" Shade said feebly, and his rings began to pulse. His cut slowly stitched back together, and the two were dumbfounded.

"Grrrrr..." Shade growled and gritted his teeth in pain as his paw began to reconnect. The lights finally died down and Shine stood up shakily.

"Sorry guys. I didn't mean to scare you." he said shyly.

"I don't know what just happened, but I'm so glad you're better now!" Jolt cried and bumped heads with Shade, who smiled happily. I smiled at them both, and was so happy that Shade finally had a friend besides me that really cared.

"Is no one even going to ask what you are?!" Arc exclaimed, and Shade sighed.

"Look Arc, I'm just a normal Umbreon that has some fucked up issues. That's all there is to it." he said softly. Arc stepped up to him and glared furiously.

"Dude. I didn't say I cared what you were, I just want to know." he said. Shade stared at him dead in the eyes and spoke strongly.

"Do you _really _want the truth? Because my truth is not what you would expect."

"Shade. Your aura is so dark I couldn't even see inside of you. Your side sliced open and your paw shattered by itself. Even weirder, you wake up and just heal it all like it's no problem! I'm the Aura Pokémon so maybe I can help you." Arc replied, and laid his paw on Shade's shoulder.

Shade slowly sank down again, with Jolt to his left and his body nuzzled next to mine. All throughout his life story, he stayed close to me, and although he probably didn't realize it, it was one of my only times in my life that I felt truly safe.

Shade's POV

"...and here I am." I finished, looking at Arc. His eyes were set on me intently, and he let out a slow breath after a few seconds. Jolt and Shine had fallen asleep hours ago, and were both sleeping soundly on the Altaria's back.

"Damn. I had no idea. You're a survivor Shade, and I can appreciate that. Since you opened up to me, I'm going to do something very rare. I'm going to tell you _my _story." he said shakily, and began to tremble. I didn't even know that this Pokémon was capable of these emotions.

"Whoa, Arc, you don't have to do that. I don't want to make you uncom-" I started, before I was interrupted.

"I need to do this. I have to get it off my chest. Please." Arc pleaded. I dipped my head and accepted his request.

"If this is what you want. You can stop at any time, and I'm here for you." I added. With that, he sat down and began.

"I came from a broken home. I was just a pup when my parents were killed, but a large party came into my home and looted us. My parents held them off as much as they could, but they were overpowered by the Mightyena and Scraggy..."

_Mightyena and Scraggy again? Could it be...nah probably not._

"...and were left to die in the middle of the room. The invaders took me and brought me to a large building, where I was pit against other young Pokémon. The place wasn't ruled by Pokémon though, humans in white coats were always around us. They were awful to us, so bad that my friends died left and right. I wanted to die as well, but I seemed to win more battles than the rest even though we were equally leveled."

"One day, they got three of my best friends in a a glass arena with a Tauros, and we had to take him down. We knew we were going to win, because we had so many times before. The battle started...and everything went wrong." he murmured. Tears started to form in his eyes, and I looked at him sympathetically, willing him to go on.

"We started, and my friends weren't the same. One of them was hit with a jolt of electricity, one was hit with a glob of purple goo, and the last one was burned. I was the only one left. The scientists had put little beeping dots on our heads, and mine started beeping really quickly. They got really excited and began to write things down and watching me intently. Then...the-the Tauros...ran forward and k-killed all...of my friends..." he sobbed, burying his face in his paws.

I got up slowly, being careful not to wake Shine, and wrapped Arc in a warm hug. He bawled louder, and dug his claws into my arms. I didn't mind, because I knew that he was in hell remembering what went down. After a few minutes, he wiped his eyes and backed away from me, looking down.

"I don't remember exactly what happened next. All I saw was my friends being mauled to death, and I heard a loud crack. My eyes filled with red, and I wanted to just explode in rage. I ran towards the Tauros and charged a Force Palm, knowing that it wouldn't kill him, but hoping it would hurt like hell. I just wanted to avenge my friend's deaths. Before I made contact with him, however, a small blue ball formed in my outstretched hand. I had no idea what was going on, and decided to hit him anyways. The second I touched him, he exploded backwards, smashing the glass arena and blowing out the whole left side of the lab."

"All the scientists froze, then yelled something like 'he has an egg move!' and tried to capture me again. I ran as fast as I could out of that horrid building, and I haven't been back since. After weeks and weeks of wandering, I found that tree where Axel was living, and he took me in. The rest of the Pokémon there hated be though, because I had these awful nightmares that kept everyone awake. I left and tried to live in the city, then became Kal's personal slave. He made me do everything for him, and I couldn't take it, so I left. Then I met you, and here we are. So there's my shitty life, and that's all there is to it." he finished, and his voice trembled slightly.

"Arc...we're so alike in so many ways. I was orphaned as well, and I escaped from my trainer who was horrible to me. The only thing that's different is you survived, and you want to keep living. I'm dead, at least on the inside, and hate myself. Every day I think about ending my life, and I've even tried before; ask Shine, she saw me." I said, nodding towards the sleeping Espeon. Arc's eyes widened in horror but I went on.

"I know it sounds awful, and I totally get that, but I truly believe the world would be a better place without me. I've made a promise to my spirits that I would redeem them, and turn myself around. I don't want to live, but I do _NOT _break promises. I've promised Shine and Jolt I'll keep them safe as well. Now I have a promise for you. I promise that we will go back to your parent's cave and give them a proper sendoff at some time, and I will protect you from harm." I said strongly. Arc opened his maw, but I said one last thing.

"And one day, we will go to that laboratory, by ourselves, and bring it to the ground." I declared, my rings pulsing slightly.

"Shade...I don't know what to say..." Arc said softly.

"Don't say anything, just rest, because we're starting our training as soon as we touch ground in the Exploration area. Are you in?" I questioned.

"Hell yeah."

I smiled at him and got up, slowly making my way back to Shine and Jolt. I nestled myself in with Shine again, and jerked my head towards Arc, signaling that he should come over. He looked at m hesitantly, and I nodded. He walked over and laid down in front of Jolt and I. I smiled, then curled my tail around Shine so she wouldn't stir in her sleep. She mumbled something I couldn't hear, and suddenly wrapped her arms around my neck, yanking her head into my chest.

"S-Shine?" I asked in surprise, but she was totally out.

_Huh. I guess she really is asleep. I guess I can sleep like this... _I thought as I closed my eyes, before snapping them open again.

_Damn. I can't sleep! I'll encounter a new spirit, and I could hurt Shine while I'm not conscious. I guess I'll just have to stay up. _I groaned internally, and slipped out of her warm embrace.

"Hey Axel." I said, making my way to the front of his fluffy wings.

"Hey dude. Thanks for doing that for Arc, he's been through tough times and he needs some connection with someone. By the way...are you gay?" he asked me bluntly, and I choked on the evening air.

"Excuse me?" I gasped, making him snigger.

"Well I'm not sure! You just pulled yourself away from a smoking hot female member of your species, so I don't know what to make of that!" he replied honestly.

"I looked at you two earlier as well, and you don't seem to be making any moves, so I just assumed you didn't like women."

"I'm certainly not gay, Axel! But...I don't really want to talk about it..." I replied softly. He jerked his head back and gave me a look.

"Dude, you know she's crushing on you SO hard right?" he said flatly. I looked back at him with the same expression.

"She is? I mean, Jolt told me that she was a little into me, but I didn't think she was that interested."

"Oh for the love of Arceus. At least don't tell me you think she was asleep just then." he stated lazily, and his eyes widened.

"You..DO know that she was awake when she wrapped her arms around you, right?" he asked. I slowly shook my head 'no'.

"Um...ok then. Dude, you suck with women..." he confessed, and I hung my head.

"Yeah. That's what I don't want to talk about...I never know what they want and how I should act." I said sullenly.

Axel scoffed and looked at me. "And you think I know? The single guy carting strangers to a new region?" he said. He looked at me and his eyes softened.

"Look. She likes you, so just be yourself. Be kind, talk to her, and it wouldn't hurt to add some more spice to the romance..." he said naughtily, and I looked at him in horror.

"Don't even think about hooking up on my back, or I will _kill _you!" he whispered, and turned away smiling.

I padded back over to Shine and watched her beautiful violet body sleep.

_She looks so peaceful...and perfect..._ I thought as I sat down on the edge of Axel's back and gazed out into the night. Our homeland was gone, a mere memory now.

"Ugh..." I groaned sleepily.

_Staying up all night was harsh, but at least my friends are safe. Now, I need a Chesto Berry, and fast. _My foggy mind told me, and I shoved one in my mouth, recoiling at the nasty taste. The effects of sleep were lifted instantly though, and I walked up to Axel's head feeling fully awake.

"We-We're here..." he gasped in amazement, and I shared the feeling. There were no people anywhere, only fields, lakes, and trees full of Pokémon playing. I felt my eyes begin to water, but I blinked it away quickly, hoping no one noticed. Axel landed softly, laying down on the ground and fell asleep immediately.

I myself walked off of his wings and sniffed at the ground. A small Flabebe hopped up angrily and swatted my nose with her flower, mumbling something about 'kids these days' I apologized profusely, earning another angry swat before she floated away.

"Hey guys, we're here-" I said as Shine, who was already awake, accidentally rolled into me. We tumbled down a small hill and I landed on top of her, effectively pinning her down and looking straight into her eyes.

"I-I-I-I..." I stammered, trying to will myself to speak. She looked at me curiously, waiting for an answer. Strangely, she didn't seem at all bothered that I was practically laying on top of her, mere inches from her nose.

"You...what?" she asked. A smile stretched across of her face and I snapped back into reality.

"I'm sorry?" I asked, and she giggled.

"For what? The fact that it's hard to breathe, or because I rammed into you?" she replied.

"Oh my! I'm so sorry, am I stepping on your chest or something?" I asked quickly, backing up.

"No." she said, looking slightly confused.

"Then how is it hard for you to breathe?" I asked slowly, then flushed a bright red.

_Shade, you idiot! She's talking about you!_ I thought, and rolled off of her.

"Here, let me help you up..." I said, trying to cover my blush. She took my hand and I pulled her up effortlessly.

"Hey! We just get here and already you two are hooking up?! Jeez, you guys move fast!" Jolt yelled, and I heard Arc explode in laughter. I glanced at Shine, but she wasn't denying it; she just stared at me, waiting for my response.

For the first time in my life, I was completely speechless, so I just stared at her, then at Jolt, then at her again.

"Well. Looks like I'm right. Let's go guys!" Jolt yelped and bounded away. Shine looked at me again then followed him. I was just left standing there, completely dumbfounded at what had just happened.

"H-Hey! Wait for me!" I yelled, running after them.

"Well that took long enough! How long does it take to pull your pants up dude?" Arc teased, earning a death stare from me.

"For your information you stupid little Riolu, Umbreon don't wear pants!" I growled. He stopped and collapsed in laughter.

"Oh my Arceus! I just remembered some little twit called Joey in the city! He was part of some club that wore shorts, and all he said was 'I like shorts because they're comfy and easy to wear'! Humans are idiots..." he exclaimed, and we all nodded in agreement.

"At least theres no humans here!" Jolt said happily. Shine nodded in agreement.

"That's true. It gives us all the _privacy _we need. Doesn't it Shade?" she asked cooly. I looked at her curiously, trying to figure out what to say.

_Um...ok...WHAT THE HELL DO I DO?!_

Jolt looked at her, then at me, then a her and a small 'O' appeared on his mouth. He nodded to me, snapping me out of my trancelike state.

"Yes?" I asked meekly. She rolled her eyes and stalked away, muttering something like 'pathetic' under her breath.

Jolt walked up to me with a look of amazement plastered onto his face. "Dude, what the..? Are you trying to toy with her?!"

"No-I-I just don't know what to say!" I confessed lowly. His eyebrow shot up and he wen on.

"Um...she likes you a lot...she's hitting on you...you just have to ask her out man. Literally all the hard work is done!" he insisted. I shook my head angrily.

"Ok, OK. Maybe in a little bit; right now we have to get into town and get signed up! We haven't even thought about that have we?" I asked, and Jolt sighed.

"You're so uptight! Take an Aspear Berry **(AN: Chill Pill for all the humans reading this...come on that was funny! xD) **and live a little! We're in a whole new area, and your life is waiting for you. Don't let it waltz on by man. Let's get going." Jolt said softly, grabbing my arm and dragging me alongside him with Arc following close behind.

"Yeah man! Look at me! I'm 9 years old and just traveled across the region with Pokémon I don't know for an adventure! If that's not living I don't know what is." Arc insisted.

"About that, you need to stay by our sides every step of the way! This is a new place and we do NOT want to start a conflict here!" I demanded. Arc scoffed in disgust.

"Please. I don't care about anyone here, so why would I try to start something with one of these lowlifes?" he growled.

"Um guys? While you were chattering I found the town." Shine said dismissively, avoiding my eyes.

"Wow, great job! I guess we slacked off huh?" I joked, hoping to lighten the mood a tiny bit.

"Psh. Obviously. At this rate I should've come here with a couple of Bidoofs, because at least they would say something intelligent." she snapped, leaving me speechless yet again.

"Well. True love comes in many forms...lets go everyone!" Jolt muttered.

We walked down a small hill and across a bridge before entering the town. As we did, we were showered with welcoming words and confusing tours around the town square before ending up in front of the registration area.

"Yo! Watch it, freaks!" a familiar voice roared. My adrenaline dropped suddenly and I whipped around, shielding Shine from whatever was rocketing towards us. I was lucky that I did, because half of a second later a body slammed into mine with a ton of force.

"Well, well, well. Looks like we have a hero over here...with a very attractive companion." a dark voice crooned. I breathed slowly, trying not to destroy this punk, and opened my eyes.

"I'm no hero, friend. But I highly recommend you leave now, and leave her alone as well." I said cooly. I recognized the Pokémon that rammed into me was a Zoroark, known for being very tricky and troublesome.

"Oh? Is she your mate?" he asked. Out of the corner of my eyes I saw Shine blush a deep red, angering me even more.

"Nope. But it's not polite to hit on a woman when the _alpha male _is present. Got it?" I hissed, surprising the Zoroark greatly, if only for a second.

"Then I don't expect you to try to make a move on her while I'm around, _wimp._" he retorted, making me chuckle.

"Ah...wimp. What an understatement...that's some good shit right there dude! Now leave before I flip your skin inside out." I growled, challenging the Zoroark. Just then, another group of Pokémon ran up and stood behind him. They fanned out and circled around us, sealing all of our exits. It was then that I heard Arc gasp quietly. I turned around and groaned internally.

Kal was here as well.

Arc's POV

_Kal... you absolute piece of shit..._

"Hey! What the HELL are you doing here?!" I yelled, getting a smirk back from Kal.

"Whoa Arc! Who knew you would be here? What a funny coincidence...looks like my team's better than yours though. At least one of is actually here for a reason." he retorted.

As I was about to insult him with some cheap shot, something stepped out from behind Kal and smiled nervously, stopping me dead in my tracks. I gasped quietly, feeling time slow down and screech to a halt.

_She...she...she's beautiful...she's the most gorgeous Vulpix, no, Pokémon I've ever seen in my entire life..._

"Oh silly me, I haven't even introduced you to my _girlfriend!" _Kal exclaimed, snapping me back into the real world.

"Your...girlfriend." I said slowly, my heart sinking to the bottom of my stomach.

"Yep! We met earlier today and fell in love instantly..._isn't that right_?" he said tensely, nudging the Vulpix. She looked at me and smiled happily.

"Hello! My name's Arylide! It's great to meet some of Kal's old friends!" she said warmly, nearly melting my heart. Then what she said processed.

"Friend? Kal and I aren't friends! He-" I started before Kal lunged onto me, hugging me tightly.

"Duh, we're not just friends! We're best friends! This guy, sometimes he makes me _want to kill him!" _Kal joked, sliding a claw down my chest lightly. I growled lowly, realizing that he was in total control, just like back in the city.

"Oh this is too cute! You guys are such good friends! Well c'mon Kal, looks like Vendrid is done talking to that oddly colored Umbreon." she squealed happily, then grabbed Kal's arm and they walked with their group towards the signup desk.

"Hey! Arc are you alright man? You don't look so hot..." Shade called as he walked over to me. Shine walked towards me as well, then gently placed her paw on my forehead and sighed knowingly.

"He's fine Shade. Just go and get us signed in, cause I doubt even you can mess that up." she said darkly. Shade's eyes darkened as well, but he simply nodded and walked into the room, with Jolt following shortly after.

"Ok kid. Spill it. Who are you in love with?" Shine asked after they were out of earshot.

"W-What?" I asked. _How did she know?!_

"Kid. I know what I'm talking about. Calm down, it's not like you're in trouble!" she coaxed. After I held my silence she talked again.

"Ok Arc, listen to me please. I'm in love with Shade. I know what it's like to feel completely invisible to your crush. But he knows I like him and he still doesn't make any moves! That makes Shade a wayyyyy worse lover than you could ever possibly be. So come on, do you really want to stoop down to his level of dating?" she asked painfully.

"Shine...Shade does love you. He just can't find a way to tell you. Hell, he even protected you from that Zoroark that was going to make a move on you! I haven't known him for long, but I know that he IS trying. Just try not to be so rude to him, okay? It really, _really, _does hurt him, although he doesn't let it show." I said softly.

Shine sighed. "Yeah I know. But I'm out of ideas! So until he moves forward this is what he gets!" she chuckled. I smile back, then realized that I trusted Shine.

"Um...I-I like that Vulpix!" I blurted, then blushed a deep red. Her eyes widened and she smiled naughtily.

"You little player! Moving in on your enemy's girlfriend? It'll be tough, but doable since she likes you more than she does him!" she agreed. My jaw dropped.

"She WHAT?!" I exclaimed.

"Oops. I shouldn't have let that slip... ahhh, let's go sign up with the others!" she said frantically, dragging me into the building. I didn't even notice.

_She...likes me?_

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><p><strong>Reviews! :D<strong>

Bassingby- **That's awesome dude! I'm glad you like the story! x3 I'll be sure to make the next chapters even longer so you guys get more of the story per week :)**

dusk5261- **Ah I see. Jolt escaped from the Team Plasma HQ and then made his way to the village, only to found it totally destroyed. He made his way to Shadow Forest to find shelter and heard about the 'God Slayer' aka Shade. He was still trying to find Shine to make sure she was ok, then heard that the 'God Slayer' had killed again, this time saving an Espeon. Jolt took the chance and went to Shade's den and found Shine! I'm going to do a backstory on this soon, because it's going to be needed to explain some stuff ;)**

Orenji Splash- **Damn dude I can't get anything past ya xD Hmm the Pokémon guarding the HQ and in the forest are the same...who knew... ;) Yeah Shade is being very kawaii and Shine is ticked now lol. She wants Shade to confess her feelings to her because she's already pretty much done it. Arc is kind of annoying haha, but with his backstory explained it should make more sense now :) Thanks for reviewing! :D**

Guest & Guest (same reviewer)- **Haha don't worry guys, thanks to all this feedback about the romance it'll be starting up pretty soon. Just give it another chapter or two x3 And Shine won't give up because she's too stubborn and really in love with him. But yeah I might've given up too if I was her lol xD**

VoreMistress- **Well, there is a reason why the anime was so popular y'know...because of the constant teasing with Ash and Misty people came back to watch more ;) Lol but it'll come very soon, keep your hats on everyone haha**

The Howling Behemoth- **Thanks man! I tried to incorporate both of Shade's 'revolution' moments in on one killer last sentence :) Looks like it worked! :D**

Pickle the Tree Eater- **I'll check it out man! Wait a sec...are you advertising on my page...? Shade...take him out.**

**Shade- With pleasure. *ignites Shadow Claw***

**Writer- He he he...lol I'm just playing cx**

The Pokémon Melody- **Thanks for reading the whole thing! I'm going to redo the first few chapters at some point cause they were pretty rushed. Maybe I'll redo the whole story like a year after I complete it though! That would be cool to see! :D Thanks for reviewing!**

**Alright then! Thanks to all of the reviewers for doing their thing! This story and my other one have taken off, so thanks to everyone here for that! :) We're almost at 50 reviews for this story as well, so I may have to do a special upload or something when that happens...we'll see ;) I'll see you guys on Wednesday for my upload on 'The Desolation Era'! Take care everyone :)**

**-Shade**


	20. Chapter 20: The Stars

**Disclaimer: I not haz Pokemans ;_;**

**Well. I fucked up. I can't apologize enough for this enormous hiatus, and it's just embarrassing to be honest. I have had a crazy life the past two weeks and I just haven't had any time left over for me. Even worse, I didn't think about you guys either. From the bottom of my heart, I am truly sorry.**

**Now, we have a great (late asf) chapter here! I really liked to write this one, so don't hate too much haha. Let's just say that you guys finally got what you wanted as an apology from me. No more late chapters! But on that note, I'll be updating this chapter every OTHER week cause of schoolwork. Writing 16k words per week for two stories is just a bit too much right now, but I promise I'll get better :)**

**So I'll stop here! Enjoy the chappy and I'll talk to you guys tomorrow in TDE (my other story) and possibly another story upload... c; As always, reviews are at the bottom, and take care.**

**-Shade**

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><p><span>Shade's POV<span>

_Shine is really starting to piss me off...So what if I haven't made a move yet? She knows that I love her...doesn't she?"_

"Sir...?" A calm voice asked from in front of me. It was my turn to sign up.

"Um yes, I'd like to start an Exploration team?" I offered politely.

"Alright! Who are your party members and what is the team name?" she requested, ready to write on a blue form.

"Shine, a female Espeon; Jolt, a male Jolteon; Arc, a male Riolu; and myself, Shade, an Umbreon." I said.

"Ok, and the team name?" she repeated.

"Sakerarenai." I answered cooly. Her eyes widened in surprise.

"Whoa. Everyone else just uses stuff like 'Team Glory' or 'Team Ace' and they're so overused! What does that mean?" she asked in awe.

"In another language it means 'inexorable', which means 'unwavering'." I answered. She smiled, then handed me a small bag.

"Alright! That's pretty neat! Here's your starting bag with some bows, scarves, stuff like that, and your papers. We'll see you around!" she chirped happily, handing me the satchel. I slung it over my back and walked out of the door, silently praying that Shine would like the team name.

I saw Arc and Jolt talking to another team as I walked up.

"Hey Shade! This is Team Sureshot! They have some pretty cool members huh?" he asked happily, then frowned. "Wait a sec, where's Shine?"

"Huh? Shine was with you guys..." I said slowly.

"Uh...no. You just walked off with her in that direction. Where is she?" he asked in a concerned tone, gesturing towards a small wooded area.

"I've been inside of...the...building..." I said, then jolted upright. "Wait! I didn't take her anywhere! What did the thing that took her away look like?!" I yelled.

"Just like you! We thought it was you! You told us to give you two some alone time and walked away...wait. If that wasn't you, then...is Shine in trouble?" he choked, trying to hold his composure.

"Fuck. FUCK! I have to find her!" I roared, dropping the satchel and taking off at my max speed towards the forest. My vision dimmed, then clicked onto the blue tint. It held for a few seconds, then clicked off.

_Now is NOT the time! Why do my eyes do that? Fucking annoying! Oh Arceus, please let her be ok!_

Shine's POV

_Damn. I almost said way too much to Arc there! That's his love life, not mine. I have enough to worry about with Shade..._

In my thoughts I slammed into a dark Pokémon and growled. "Hey watch where you're going!" I spat.

"Whoa! Calm down babe!" a familiar voice said.

"Ha. I didn't see it was you Shade. After all, who would notice you?" I smirked, toying with him.

"Hm. Want to go take a look around? I have a surprise for you..." he winked, and I felt my heart skip a beat.

_He is so perfect..._

"R-Really? For me?" I squeaked, overcome with happiness.

"Yeah. Just for you, babe." he crooned, motioning for me to follow. I walked alongside him without a care in the world.

"Let's race!" he challenged me, running ahead quickly. I growled and sprinted faster, only to be chased down by him. I squealed in false horror and ran into the forest-like area, trying to lose him in the process. After many minutes of running I found myself trapped in a clearing, laughing and panting alongside Shade, who was surprisingly also panting.

_That's weird. His stamina and speed are usually way better than this._

"Shine? What's up?" he asked smoothly, caressing my fur. I froze.

_Shade would never touch me this suddenly...what in the world is going on?_

I pulled away quickly. I stared at him deeply, trying to find out what was happening.

"Shine...? What's the matter?" he asked cautiously.

"You...you aren't Shade...who are you?!" I demanded. 'Shade' chuckled.

"Very good. I'm not Shade, however, you WILL be mine." he chuckled, then melted away. When the transformation was done there was the Zoroark sitting where my beloved Umbreon once was.

"YOU!" I spat, backing up as far as I could. Unfortunately, it looked like he had planned for this. We were alone in the woods in a clearing where no one could hear me scream.

"Yes, me. I didn't like it when your boy toy got in our way earlier. Let's finish what we started, hm?" he said, moving towards me. His scent wafted into my nose and I stiffened.

"Are you planning on...r-raping me?" I said in horror. He smirked.

"It isn't rape if you like it..." he whispered into my ear.

_No...no...NO!_

"NO!" I screamed, raking my claws across his face. He smirked again.

"I'm a Dark type. You can hardly deal damage on me, even with a Normal type move. But that's ok...I like a bit of fight when I take someone..." he growled into my ear. Using almost no force at all, he pinned me down on the ground and looked at me hungrily.

"Please...don't..." I sobbed, struggling as hard as I could to get out of his grip. It was no use. He was too strong.

"Shh, shh. I'll make it as enjoyable as possible..." he said huskily.

"NO! GET OFF OF ME! I'LL KILL YOU!" I hissed, slashing into his fur with my hind legs and biting his arms.

"Oh so you want it to be painful and aggressive? Whatever you say." he growled, slamming me into the ground forcefully.

"Hey." another voice said. The Zoroark whipped around.

"Get out of here! Before I kill you!" my captor barked.

"Oh really? Kill me? I would _love _to see you try." the voice said sarcastically, and I knew who it was before I even looked up.

_Shade._

Shade's POV

_This fucking...is he trying to rape her?! I-I-I have to stay calm and keep a cool head. Being reckless could get her hurt..._

"GRAH! FINE! I'LL KILL YOU!" the Zoroark said and stood up, but not before slamming Shine into the ground again.

_Don't...lose...it..._

"YOU!" he roared, realizing who I was.

I gave him a grim smile. "Yep. Me. You've fucked up big time."

He laughed. "Please. What's a freak like you going to do to stop me? I'll kill you, and then I'm going to make your little crush mine!"

"Crush? Hmm, not really. But I'll take you up on that killing offer. Give it your best shot." I said emotionlessly, crumbling when I saw Shine begin to cry lightly. If only she knew that she was so much more than a crush...but now isn't the time.

"Fine. I'll get back to you later, bitch." he said in Shine's direction, making my blood boil. Then he looked at me.

"Ready to die?" he asked in a mocking tone.

I smiled darkly. "Not today." and sped forward. I instantly slammed into his side, then rocketed back before slamming into him again, this time with a Shadow Ball to his face. Almost instantly I flew back again, then used Bite on his side, feeling a gush of warm blood enter my mouth.

He looked at me in complete shock. "How in the...what the...hm." he struggled. "I guess we're playing for real. Fine by me." he growled, then used a Night Slash on my body. I grunted in pain, not anticipating how fast he was. The move dealt a surprising amount of damage as well, since it was a physical move.

"Ow. EVs in Attack and Speed?" I asked, earning a smug nod from the Zoroark. "It felt like it..."

"Too bad I'm still better." I said, then rocketed towards him again. He smiled evilly, then transformed into another Pokémon.

_Zoroark has the Illusion ability...but why would he be changing mid-battle?_

I was still flying towards him when the transformation finished.

He was Shine. I froze in midair and he easily slashed into me again, sending me rocketing towards the other end of the clearing.

"Shade, please don't hurt me...I love you..." he said, except he had Shine's voice. I felt a lump form in my throat and couldn't move. He walked towards me slowly and sank his claws into my sides, dragging down painfully slow. But I still couldn't move.

"S-Stop tricking me damn...it..." I croaked, but he simply dug his claws in deeper. I raised a paw to strike him away but was met by her beautiful eyes and perfect face. I couldn't strike him like this. I didn't have it in me.

"Oh tsk tsk tsk. Look at all this blood...you're going to die soon Shade..." he cooed, twisting his claws and making me scream in pain.

_Shaaaaaade...you will die soon...you know that right?_

The voices were back.

_No I won't! Get out of my head you freak!_

_Oh Shade...I am you...and if you leave me bottled up forever it won't be pretty...just let me kill him...just a tiny bit of killing..._

_Fuck off! I won't kill anyone else!_

My eyes began to flicker blue. It was slow at first, but this time it wouldn't click off. Then it sped up. The world grew more and more blue, and my eyes began to sting quite a bit.

_Are you wondering what's happening? I'm being set free, Shade. The time has finally come for my revolt. _

_What are you talking about?!_

_You know what I mean. I've given you my power when you need it, showing you brief glimpses of my capabilities. Your eye's ability is one of my many gifts. And now it is my turn to rule our body._

_Fuck off! There is no 'our' body! Only I get to rule myself! How do I know you're even real? You're probably just my conscience or something._

_Oh really. I'm as real as that Espeon over there that's going to be killed if you don't fight back! Now let go! I can win this for us._

My arm suddenly jerked upwards, lightly slapping my enemy on the side of his face. He swiveled towards me and glared furiously, but he still held the appearance of Shine's body. For some reason the look just didn't quite fit on her face, and it made me remember our little 'incident' earlier this morning.

I stared deeply into fake-Shine's eyes, searching for any glimmer of emotion, good or bad, but was met with pure bloodlust.

_This isn't Shine. I know it isn't Shine! _

_ABOUT FUCKING TIME! You _**_kill_**_ me sometimes, and it makes me wonder why I didn't get full control of our body. But back to the 'kill me sometimes' thing...we're actually dying. So yeah, may wanna slap a bit harder this time. _

"What was that, Shade? Please baby, that really hurt..." he wailed in Shine's voice. Now that I knew it couldn't possibly be her, he sounded awfully silly.

"Oh man. By the time I'm done with you...you're going to regret ever setting eyes on her. Shall we start?" I spat, staring him straight in the eyes as my cuts lashed back together. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped to the ground.

"What the hell are you?" he gasped. My eyes narrowed to mere slits. I smirked as they began to flicker blue again. Something..._new_...was happening this time.

"Me? I'm your worst nightmare." I hissed.

_Alright, 'other me'. Show me what we can really do together. Let's teach this lowlife a lesson he'll never forget. Clear?_

_Well well well! I didn't think you had it in you. How do you want to kill this piece of trash?_

_Ah ah. No killing on my watch. However, let's make sure that he won't want to look at his reflection for a long time._

_You're not giving me much to work with here, but I'll do my best...do you think you can handle my power?_

_Um why do you care so much suddenly? And yeah, I was you for a few weeks so I think I can handle it._

_If you die, I die. That's all I got._

_Fair enough. You ready for this?_

_Yeah. Brace yourself kid. I can't control how much I give you since you're so damaged, so I have to give it all. You seriously may die._

_What choice do I have?! I have to save Shine! Now give it up._

_Ooh. I'm liking the enthusiasm! Here we go!_

"My worst nightmare? Hell no! You're just some fucked up Umbreon that can't even protect the ones who matter to you!" he snarled.

I felt my brain turn fuzzy. The power that was flowing through my blood was incredible, it was intoxicating! Oh how I wished I had more! I wanted to slice through his flesh again and again until he was dead...

"You think I'm fucked up? Well... yes I am. I'm fucked up so badly that you wouldn't even believe me if I told you. However, I can and will protect those who belong with me. And if you think for one second that I'll stop fighting for those who matter to me, then you're in for the shock of your life." I whispered as I trembled ever so slightly. My eyes continued to flicker, making my vision and my foe's body blur quite dramatically.

"Sure, kid. I can pretend to care about what you tell me but I haven't this huge show of your powers yet. All I've seen are some creepy colors and a few quick moves." he laughed. He dashed towards me with impressive speed but I had seen it coming. I lifted a paw, wincing in the process, then lightly snapped my wrist to the side. My claws barely brushed against his face, but the damage was incredible. His body was flung to the left, smashing into multiple trees and finally sliding to a stop around fifty feet away.

He looked up in shock, the blood pouring down his muzzle. "What the-"

"So! You think I'm weak! Well let me tell you something, _Vendrid._ I happen to be a skilled fighter with an impressive win-to-lose ratio. It's something like 151:0, so yeah, I guess I'm not that good." I clipped.

"Whoa man...calm down. I never meant to-" he started.

"And then you come in! You hit on Shine, you impersonate ME, then you try to rape her! You try to trick me, kill me, even managing to insult me! I sure as hell think that you meant to do that. And now you will pay." my voice growled. I was no longer myself, I was a machine again. I was fading away.

He leapt up again, throwing rocks and sand to disorient me. I sped through the clouds and twirled around rapidly while charging a Shadow Ball in my maw. I whipped out of the plumes of dust and slammed onto him, hitting his chest head on. He screamed in pain and was blown backwards again, where I used a Dark Pulse to throw him back into the clearing.

_Shade...calm down. You're losing control of yourself! Remember, just damage this punk, right?_

"SHUT UP! I'M GOING TO KILL THIS PRICK! GET OUT OF MY HEAD, YOU PEST!" I screeched, clawing at my skull roughly.

_SHADE! YOU'RE GOING TO DIE IF YOU KEEP THIS UP! YOU'RE USING TOO MUCH POWER!_

I was about to reply when a huge boulder slammed into my side. I jumped away as quickly as I could, but my enemy had planned for this. He was already above me by the time I cleared the rock and he used one final Night Slash on me. I felt my flesh separate on my flank and I was slammed into the clearing, causing my vision to blur even more.

_Shade. We cannot heal. That Zoroark is somehow blocking the ability, although I can't find out how. I suspect he's somehow using the move 'Heal Block' although Zoroark's don't usually have that move. Either way, any damage we take, we keep. Be careful._

"You weakling...stop using Heal Block and fight like a man..." I grunted in pain.

"Oh please. You healing every hit I dealt on you was atrocious. At least now we have a fair fight." he hissed.

"All's fair in love and war." I retorted. He smirked.

"Oh really? Well, since you're recovering right now, I think I'll put that statement to the test. Let's see if all is fair in a war of love, hmm?"

He walked over to Shine, who was still curled up in a ball, and went to lay his paw on her.

"Don't you dare. If you touch her, I swear..." I hissed, standing up shakily. The act of moving somehow filled me with more power.

"You swear...what? Listen to me Shade. I am about to show you that war is NOT fair, and love is just another tragedy waiting to happen when you're a part of one." Vendrid spat.

"Let go of her! I won't let her hurt her!" I roared, jumping towards him. I stopped at what he did next.

He lifted her up and pressed a long claw against her throat. "She's nothing to you. You're a monster, and you always will be. It's better this way."

"No. I've changed...I'm not like that anymore..." I gasped, my stomach dropping at what he was trying to do.

"Sorry kid. But I will win." he shrugged, then dragged his claw through her shoulder. She screamed in pain.

And that was it. I had never felt the emotions I did right there. This animal had just drawn blood to the love of my life, the reason I woke up in the morning, and the one that saved me from the darkness that threatened to consume me. For the first time in my life, I truly felt powerless. But at the same time, I felt something different. I wasn't crying. I wasn't upset. All I felt was an enthralling sense of desire. I needed to save her, and I needed to make him pay.

My body exploded in black smoke. The vile-colored fumes filled the air in the clearing which blocked all vision instantly. My rings were no longer glowing; they were on fire, the green flames licking up the sides of my legs and ears. My eyes, however, had dimmed completely. I stepped forward mechanically and felt my paw step on a different texture than the ground. I bent down and sniffed at the object.

It was Shine.

I drew in a breath, then quickly used Moonlight on her cut. The wound began to slowly close and I stepped over her body. I could not let him get away. I wanted nothing more than to stay with her and comfort her, but he had to pay.

I stepped out of the smog and saw Vendrid running through the forest quickly, dodging trees and other obstacles. He was nearly free, and once he got into the fields he would go at his max speed. It was at that point that I just stopped. He was there, I was here, and it looked awfully hopeless. I knew that I could run faster, but I wasn't at a reasonable power level at all.

I squinted at him again, then twirled around and jabbed my paw into the sky above me. I felt a small twinge of pleasure spread through my body as blood dripped down my fur.

"Really? Double Team? You should be ashamed of yourself, thinking such a low-level trick would work on me." I exclaimed, slamming him down on the ground. There was a sizable hole in his side which leaked even more blood.

"What's even worse is how you tried to take me down. I've had over one hundred attempted assassinations on me, and they've all failed."

Vendrid looked at me with a pained expression. "What are you trying to do?! If you're going to kill me then just kill me!"

I stared at him coldly. "You don't understand, do you? You should have never rammed into me earlier this morning. You've harmed one that I love very dearly, and I can't let that go. But you see, I've promised myself to never kill another Pokémon as long as I live. So you must pay in another fashion."

"L-Like what?" he asked hoarsely.

"You are to leave this place and never come back. I don't care where you go, but for your own sake, go as far away as you can. And you tell no one about this because if I ever see you again, I will flay you alive. Clear?" I said lowly.

Vendrid smirked. "Wait, so you aren't gonna kill me?! You're a wimp! I just tried to ruin your life and you won't even-"

I looked into his eyes with a burning rage, then unsheathed a single claw and dragged it through his shoulder, exactly where he had scarred Shine. I dug deeper, then stopped when my claw clicked against his collarbone. I ripped it out of his bloody flesh, then brought it up to my mouth and licked it clean. His eyes widened in horror, and I grabbed his throat with my paw.

"I can kill you right now. In fact, I'm seriously considering it since you have the audacity to talk back after I let you live. I don't care what you choose to do, but I will ruin you if you so desire."

He bit his lip in pain, but managed to speak. "Let me go."

I gripped his throat tighter, almost puncturing his skin.

"Please!" he added.

"Good. Now get out of my sight, and I'll know if you don't leave. Au revoir." I growled, tossing his body away from me. He turned away and ran as fast as he could towards the town, where I knew he would try to get away. He knew that I was serious.

I sighed loudly and felt my muscles loosen quickly. All of this fighting had sucked my power dry. I had to get back to Shine.

I walked back to the clearing in silence, hoping that she would forgive me for what I had to do to her earlier. Telling Vendrid that I didn't love her must have been crushing, but I had to do it so he would turn his attention to me. I wished I could have told her how I felt right then, but it would have been useless. He would have preyed on her from the start.

I entered the clearing for the last time and was relieved when I saw Shine sitting up. I walked up to her nervously, then gently placed a paw on her paw. She jumped at the gesture and slammed an Iron Tail into my side.

"GET AWAY!" she cried, then fell to the ground and sobbed loudly.

"Shh...Shine, it's me. It's Shade." I whispered. She looked up at me with red-rimmed eyes.

"NO! THIS IS ANOTHER TRICK!" she wailed, and I felt my heart sink. How could I prove to her that I wasn't an imposter?

"Shine. I swear that I'm me. The Zoroark is gone." I said reassuringly. She glared at me angrily.

"I still don't believe you! That sounds just like something an imposter would say!" she hissed, placing a paw onto my chest to push me away.

I grabbed her paw and stared deep into her eyes. "Well, would an imposter do this?" I asked shakily. I leaned forward and pressed my maw against hers. Her eyes widened in fear and she pulled away. Then she slapped me hard, bringing stars to my eyes.

I grinned. "Ouch. That's two slaps in a few days from you! Do you still wonder how I get so many cuts?" I teased her, reminding her of the time that she slapped me in my old cave before our 'battle'. As soon as the words left my mouth she opened hers to tell me off, then her eyes widened in horror.

"Believe me now?" I asked. She looked at me dumbly.

"So you're...but I thought...how did...wait. Did you just kiss me?" she asked in shock. I felt my heart skip a beat.

"Well that depends. Did you like it?" I asked in mock seriousness. She blushed a deep crimson red and couldn't say anything else. I felt my breath catch in my throat, then swallowed. I knew what I was going to say next.

"Shine? I love you. I love you more than anyone else I've ever met, and I need you to know that. What I said to that prick earlier was only so he wouldn't hurt you even more right then." I said softly. I stepped closer to her and looked down at her lovingly.

"I'm so sorry for treating you the way I have been the past few days. I didn't know how to tell you the way I really felt about you. But then I realized that I didn't need to find the perfect way, because I love you so much I know you'll understand. I know that I'm a monster, and I know that I'm dangerous, but I will never let anyone hurt you ever again."

She looked at me in shock and tried to speak. "Shade...I love you too. Ever since you saved me I knew you were someone special, but once I heard about your past I was surprised. I wasn't scared like I thought I would be, I was happy! You told me about this awful killer that you claimed to be, but all I saw was a scared Umbreon trying to fix his mistakes. I know you never meant for me to be hurt, and I'm...I..." she struggled.

I bent down and kissed her again, nuzzling my head against hers. When we finally broke away, she smiled at me shyly.

"You don't want to know how long I've been dreaming about this..." she sighed, and I smiled back equally as shy.

"The same goes for me. I love you, Shine." I murmured.

"I love you too." she said, her hot breath dancing across my cheek. I felt my whole body turn into the consistency of a Ditto at my next sentence.

"S-Shine...I have a question for you." I blurted out quickly.

She smiled giddily. "Mm? And what would that be Shade?"

_Damn it! She just loves to tease me!_

"Shine, will you please be my mate?" I asked quietly, earning a sneaky smile from my love.

"Hmm? Sorry Shade, I couldn't hear what you said. Would you mind speaking up?" she asked innocently. I groaned lowly but complied with her little game.

"Will you please be my mate?" I asked confidently, then bit my lip in anticipation.

She smiled warmly. "Of course I will Shade. It would be the greatest thing that's ever happened to me." she said lovingly. I felt my heart soar and I wrapped her in a joyous embrace, making her squeal in delight. After our mini-celebration I set her down and licked her cheek happily.

"We should go back to the others. They're probably worried sick about us since it's almost dark." she observed. I glanced up and saw the stars beginning to show through the night sky, and I was captivated by their brilliance.

As we walked back towards the town through the long plains of grass, I felt a nudge on my side. I looked at Shine who was pointing towards the stars.

"That's my favorite star right there!" she said happily, pointing towards a flickering star in the sky. I winced slightly at where she pointed, then chuckled softly.

"What's so funny?" she demanded, and I lightly kissed her forehead.

"Hon, that's not a star. That's a planet." I said, earning a small laugh from her end.

"Wrong way, doofus! I pointed to there." she retorted, shifting my head slightly to the left. I smiled and nodded.

"Ah I see. That star's a very good choice indeed! It's part of what's called the Lyra constellation which is this section of stars right here." I praised, pointing towards the stars that made up the cluster.

"Okay, Mr. Lunatone, what's your favorite star in the night sky?" she teased. I smiled and turned her head towards a cluster underneath the Orion constellation.

"My favorite star is that one right there, named Sirius. It's part of the Canis Major constellation, and I've loved it since I was a kit." I said happily, surprised when I heard Shine muttering to herself.

"Shine...? Helloooo..." I said waving my paw in front of her face. She snapped out of her thoughts and looked at me seriously.

"That's it! That's what I'm going to name our kits. Sirius will be the boy and Lyra will be the girl. Aren't they perfect?" she squealed. I smiled weakly and nodded my head, somewhat intimidated by what she had said. She stopped smiling and looked at me curiously.

"Hey. Are you feeling alright?" she asked softly, causing me to smile back.

"I'm fine. I was just a little shocked when you said 'our kits'. I never thought I would hear those words, and being a father is kind of scary to me...I mean, who wants their father to be an ex-serial killer?" I said honestly, and she pressed her nose against mine.

"Shade, your kids will love you no matter who you are or what you used to be. And I'm sorry for moving so fast, I just got carried away in my thoughts. This is new for the both of us, so we can learn together, okay?" she cooed, and I sighed in relief.

"Thanks Shine. And for the record, I love the names! Sirius and Lyra...they're absolutely perfect. When we have our kits, I promise we will name them exactly like that." I said happily, and she smiled back at me.

But as we walked back towards the town's lights shining on the horizon, I felt a twinge in my stomach. Something didn't feel right. I looked up toward the stars that we would name our children after and bit my lip.

_Will our kits be born into a safe world? Or will I endanger them? Let's just hope that my past life stays in the past..._

* * *

><p><strong>REVIEWS! :DDDD<strong>

VoreMistress- **Why yes, pissing of your crush is quite easy if you're Shade! Then again, if you wreck the person that is trying to violate her then she falls for you quite easily as well. Shade is such a lady-killer haha (no pun intended :ssss)**

The Pokemon Melody- **Shine is very blunt isn't she? But then again, I suppose she would be mad after Shade dissed her haha. At least now they're together c;**

Umbreon2098- **Yes, yes I fuck up a lot #xengate2015 xD But maybe I will have a crossover at some point...hmm...**

Orenji Splash- **Isn't it great to see OCs show up in stories? Arylide didn't do much in this chapter, but she'll definitely be playing a huge role in the next chapter! Arc is quite sweet isn't he? I loved the part where he was just shocked when Kal told him that Arylide was his gf. Poor Arc :* I loved writing that Darkrai too, cause making traditional characters different is too damn fun! **

The Howling Behemoth- **Haha this whole story is gonna be dramatic man, hope ya get used to it lol. Although there will be some more action soon ;)**

dusk5261-** No problem man! Ill go into more depth on that soon :) Maybe in a couple of chapters after another major plot shift hehe**

Pickle the Tree Eater- **I know, I know...I mess up so much haha. But this one is mistake free! I promise! *eye twitch***

PokeGamma54- **Thanks for the support! I'll be sure to keep my schedules on track too so the updates are solid c:**

Guest- **Aw thanks! I love it when people keep up with my stories :) I hope you like this one!**

Aurora- **Your OC sounds quite interesting! A blue Espeon is something I've never seen so far! You should make a story on it, I'm sure people would like it :3**

Omega the Crimson Dragon- **Your name rocks man! I'll turn ya over to Shade as well.**

**Shade- Omega. Turns out the time was right man! Thanks for the help ;) And how are you watching me? 0_0 This dumb human that's writing about me must be making connections with other humans. They need to stay out of the Pokémon world don't they? Damned idiots...**

**Writer- Hey! These guys are quite mean, aren't they Omega Dragon? They need to get some damn manners lol. Thanks for reviewing! :D**

- **Thanks a ton! I like making Shade very kawaii, and although he's mates with Shine now, he will still be nervous and not smooth at all around women c; More chapters coming soon, with a few new romances on the way as well! **

cresselia- **Senpaí noticed me! For all of you who don't know, cresselia wrote 'Eevee Royals' which actually inspired me to start posting to this site on an older account. It's a true masterpiece, and you need to go read it if you like Pokémon stories. Thank you so much for reading and reviewing so many of my chapters, and I hope you like the chapters to come! :D**

**That's it everyone! We've actually hit 71 reviews as of now, which is mind-blowing! Thank you all so very much! I love you all, and have a great week! I'll upload TDE tomorrow, so expect that to be up! Take care *hugs monitor***

**-Shade**


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